Path of Thorns
by Ravyn
Summary: When the Himura Heir returns from his travels overseas, he brings with him a rumor of madness. Kaoru hardly expects the rumors to be true – or to find herself trapped in a magical ploy for revenge.
1. Chapter 1

Well… here it is. I think I've been working on this chapter for about a year? A bit longer? Ah well, either way, this one is sloooooooow going. Do not expect fast updates, please. The chapters a long and I'm working to get the plot right. So…

Here is part one! Please enjoy.

A BIG thank you to **VashkaKat** and **Ming Hui Tseng **for all their help with this chapter! **  
**

Ravyn

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin ofr Beauty and the Beast. Sad, but true.

Warning: Magic, probably adult themes.

* * *

The large mansion had been on the edge of town for as long as Kaoru could remember. If you walked the path from the small gate over on woodlark lane, the trip through the woods to the edge of the sprawling landscape took nearly ten minutes. The drive took longer and the gates sat between two impressive columns of stone carved to look like great dragons. The design was a tad unusual for this part of the country but it seemed to have done the trick, as the town had grown away from those gates instead fof towards it.

It helped that what land the Himura family did not own around the large mansion had been turned into a large reserve. It had long been a sticking point for hopeful developers that the state was unwilling to change the layout of the reserve and that the Himura family was unwilling to sell any of their land. Older folk would nod knowingly and remind everyone that there was magic in that family.

Not that anyone really worried about magical problems. In order to use magic, everyone had to go and get a special license and attend that mage university and the Himura family hadn't seen anyone in three generations. What they did know was that the grounds were worked by honest people who did honest work and anyone could appreciate that.

And the estate was famous for its gardens and magic didn't always mix well with growing things. Twice a week, the gates creaked open for the public – for picnics, tours and the occasional quiet walk between lovers. Occasionally, a grade school class would get permission for a botanical tour. During the summer, the estate hired any number of college students to help run the tours and do minor work on the lawns, but very few actually stuck around for more than a week or two.

Kaoru had grown up with the mansion as part of her life for as long as she could remember. The dojo were she lived was near the edge of the woods that separated mansion from the town. Her mother would take her out there during the spring and summer to show off the roses and the quiet ponds. She had spent countless hours chasing her friends through the thick mazes of flowers. When she had needed a summer job in high school, she had gone to the old gardener and offered her services twice a week after school. While her father had paid her for the classes she taught, both her parents wanted her to have experiences outside of the dojo. Twice a week was a sturdy compromise and didn't leave her father short handed.

Those quiet evenings had been soothing in a way even the dojo hadn't managed to be. It had been exhausting, managing all her responsibilities. But it had opened up a world to her that she could share with her mother – flowers. While her mother understood both her husband and her daughter's passion for the school, she had never completely understood it. Flowers and gardening were passions that they could share and Kaoru treasured those memories. They had been a cushion when she had found herself alone in the world.

Breathing in deeply, Kaoru set those thoughts aside and considered the garden around her. The years she had spent away from this place hadn't been kind to it. It seemed… tired; which made no sense, because it was a garden, not a living person. Even if the Himura family was magical, magic did not create living personalities in non-human things. She knew the old gardener Gensai was getting along in years but she hadn't expected the garden to appear so worn… so _drained_. Her fingers itched to touch the soft, wilted buds of the flowers before her, to search deep in the mulch and between the sharp thorns for the cause. She viewed gardening like a complicated kata. Once you understood the rough, basic elements of the form, you could understand the rest.

Rubbing her hands together, she sighed at exactly how much work was in front of her. Three weeks ago she had finally admitted to herself that what little insurance money was left wasn't going to completely cover the expenses her dojo ran up. She had a solid core of students that she still taught on weekends and the advanced classes she was going to start back up twice a week in the evenings, but the new dojo was pulling away a chunk of her student base on novelty alone.

So this job was something of a blessing, even if the hard work she was going to put into it was going to make those extra classes exhausting. And the skin on the back of her neck itched constantly from something she couldn't put her finger on. It was highly unlikely that a mansion of this size didn't have some form of magical aid, although she hadn't seen so much as a ruin or mage ward.

Thoughtfully, she turned her attention to the windows of the mansion. It had been such a surprise to learn that Himura had been the one who decided to hire her. When she had worked part time he had been overseas. For as long as she could remember… the family had been overseas. She hadn't known they had returned to the mansion and she wondered how long they would stay. She had vague memories of meeting a man with kind eyes and red hair as a small child but that had been so long ago she couldn't be sure if he was part of the family or merely a sort of butler.

Well, that was enough dallying around. She had already walked the grounds. Gensai had told her she would be working mainly with the roses, which was something of a relief. The beautiful if difficult flowers were going to be a handful. And there were a lot of roses. She could already tell that the plants were going to need a good mulching and probably some fertilizing. Someone had installed a sprinkler system to water the plants, so that was one duty that she wouldn't have to deal with. She sighed. There was a lot of trimming to do. Most of the garden was planted so they flowers would bloom in stages and that meant keeping everything up tricky.

The soft, uneven crunch of feet followed by the tap of a cane against stone told her who was approaching even before he spoke.

"How do you think you'll do?"

"I think I'll be fine," Kaoru said with a smile. "I'll need your fertilization schedule if you've changed it. Do you still keep the mulch bags in the shed?"

"We use the same rose granular that we always have; same schedule that you're used to. All the plants except for those near the gazebo and the private garden are on the slow-release formula. Everything else you'll need to fertilize naturally once a month." Gensai said with a smile. "I'm sure I have a fancy chart or something lying around. I'll look for it. I've got a couple of good strong lads that will help you with the mulch."

Kaoru smiled in appreciation. Mulching was solid work and muscle was always appreciated.

"We've installed a few work sheds since you were here, so that each section has its own. I got too old to truck around tools and Mr. Himura was kind enough to indulge me. Just tack what you need to the outside door and it will be taken care of."

"Tae still provides lunch?"

"And dinner if you work too late. Once high summer sets in, everyone will have indoor work to tinker with to keep out of the worst of the sun. Tae keeps up with that list, so just ask."

Kaoru nodded and rocked back on her heels. She had brought her lunch today, but she rather doubted that a pb&j was going to be more nutritional than whatever Tae cooked. If she hadn't needed the money, she would have negotiated her pay by meals. Getting one meal a day that wasn't her cooking was going to be fabulous.

"I think anything else I can manage on my own." Kaoru said as she checked her watch. "If you can point me in the right direction, I'll get to work on some cuttings."

The sooner that was done the sooner she could start mulching. It was a good thing she liked a challenge. Looking up the bright sky, she made a note to pack sunscreen.

Gensai pointed her down the right path.

"As always, Tuesday and Thursdays we open our gates so you'll need to talk to the head of security at some point tonight. Saitoh has a series of rules he likes followed on visitor's day. We indulge him mostly to keep him off our back about other things."

X

Tae folded her hands, studying her Master. He hadn't left the window all morning – even for the tea and sandwiches she had brought up for lunch. She wondered how long it would be before Kaoru managed to make her way into the gazebo or the private section of the garden. He was already so focused on her. Biting the inside of her cheek, she kept her expression placid.

"She arrived this morning and has already started to work on the outer edges."

Tae was certain she didn't need to tell him that. His connection to the garden – the roses especially – was almost frightening at times. She kept her mouth shut about the fact that she had been forced to send a servant to bring her in for lunch or that the girl was already covered in dirt and sweat and smelling of earth. The skinny teenager who had been so kendo mad had mellowed a little at the edges but her eyes were still as bright as she remembered them.

She rather thought he already knew all that anyway.

"Yes."

Tae took another long breath. "Gensai says she has agreed to work indoors when it's hot outside and that if he knows the girl at all, she will probably show up early and work late." She shifted her weight. "Gensai wasn't sure how you wanted to handle her overtime."

Kenshin said nothing.

Tae clenched her hands together, needing the pressure to keep her composure. "The roses seem to recognize her presence."

When that didn't bring any sort of response either, Tae gave a low curtsey and left.

Roses tapped gently against the glass beneath his fingers.

X

Kaoru walked her bike around the back of the house and leaned it against the dojo wall. She was too tired to make the trek to the shed. That was just fifty feet to far. Her face felt tight along the bridge of her nose and cheeks – when she pressed her fingers against the skin, her hands felt cold. She was going to be sporting pink cheeks for a few days. She really, really hoped she didn't peel.

'_Note to self: more sunscreen_.' Kaoru thought with a groan.

What she needed was a bath… a nice long, _hot_ bath. This level of soreness was worth taking the time to fill up the modified furo and soaking herself into a prune. This was one of those times she was thankful that her family had tried to keep the dojo as traditional as possible when her grandfather had decided to move a branch of her great-grandfather's successful dojo in the hope that he could raise his family somewhere smaller than the large, bustling city. There were other times when she preferred the modifications her mother had bullied her father into making. But today… it was time for a long soak. She just wished she had had the money to repair the nozzle that controlled the hot water on the showerheads before today. No matter how hot the tub was the shower to rinse the dirt and sweat was still going to be _cold_.

Kicking off her dirty shoes, Kaoru decided she was going to have to dig out the cash for a new pair. These were going to be restricted to garden use only. Dragging herself down the hall, she got the bathwater running and glared at the hallway when the phone started to ring. Only one person had the timing to interrupt her when she just wanted to half-drown herself.

"Yes?"

"I am ordering Chinese food and bringing it over in celebration of your new job. Just wanted to make sure that you wanted your normal order of orange chicken and dumplings," Misao said swiftly, obviously catching onto the tone of her voice.

"Egg rolls and fried rice, Misao."

"Oh, I already have those written down. Okay! I am buying myself some spicy noodles and that shrimp dish so I can barter. See you in an half an hour or so!" Misao said and hung up.

Kaoru pondered that and decided she still had time to soak.

Twenty minutes to soak and takeout that she didn't have to buy was a fair trade in having to deal with her energetic friend. Moving back into the bathroom, she scrubbed herself clean as quickly as she could under the cold water and all but flung herself into the warm water of the tub. She had to grit her teeth at the shock of going from frigid cold to almost scalding but once her body adjusted, it was worth it.

Kaoru stayed in the water until Misao's voice echoing through the dojo caught her attention. Sighing, she pulled herself out of the tub and dried off, pulling on her bathrobe.

"I'm coming," Kaoru yelled back when a particularly high note from Misao had her wincing. "You are not going to die of starvation in the time it takes me to walk into the living room, Misao."

"My stomach is communing with my backbone. My backbone is attempting to forge a peace treaty, but the stomach is having none of it. It needs food. I think you are out of paper plates," Misao declared as she pulled open pantry doors. "That means we are eating off plastic and you get dish duty."

"Joy," Kaoru said as she picked up the carton of orange chicken and sighed happily. "Do I actually have to share this?"

"If you want lo mien noodles that are filled with spicy goodness and chicken, then I suggest you hand over some forkfuls, or my governors shrimp will take the chicken fried rice hostage!" Misao declared dangerously. Kaoru sighed and offered the carton. With plates piled high with egg rolls, rice, orange chicken, dumplings and various shrimp concoctions, the girls crashed on the carpeted floor of the living room, bracing their backs against the couch.

"I still can't believe you sold your dining room table," Misao complained around a mouthful of rice. "It was a nice table."

"It was a cheap table that my dad bought once mom died. That's why we have the cushions your happy butt is sitting on. Besides, I needed to make an electric bill payment." Kaoru answered once she had swallowed. "However, I get paid weekly now, plus time and a half overtime. I am planning on working round the clock until I get that garden looking tiptop again. Since its going to take some very long days to do it… there may be a table in my future."

"So did you actually go into the mansion? I mean… is it as cool and spooky as it was when we were kids? Did you see any weird stuff yet?" Misao asked as she stole the little container with the sweet/sour sauce and lavishly stirred it with her egg roll. "Is that Himura guy really back?"

"That 'Himura guy' is my boss. I haven't actually seen him yet, but there was someone looking out of a window this morning when I got there. It would make sense that his room or office over looks the gardens. Or at least, that's the view I would want once I lived there. As for 'weird stuff' not yet; although the place is spotless as ever and I didn't see anyone sweeping the paths… but that's not all unusual as I was only there for a few hours. But I didn't even see a ward to collect dust." Kaoru mused as she twisted some noodles around her chopsticks.

"You would think someone that rich and magical would just run everything with spells. It's only expensive if you have to have someone else make them."

Kaoru shrugged. "How should I know? I'm not a mage."

Misao chewed rapidly and swallowed. "There is something off about that family, you know. Or at least, that's what I've _heard_." She leaned forward, her voice going dramatic. "Some sort of mental illness runs in the family! Makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

"Wonder what?" Kaoru asked in surprise.

"Why they really go through college students like candy!" Misao said with a laugh. "It could be some crazy scheme to have organ donors or vampires or something! Or maybe they need human sacrifices to keep that mansion so pristine!"

Kaoru glared at her and Misao grinned. "Hey, it would be really cool if they were vampires."

"Misao!"

"Does Tae still work there?"

"Tae works there and doesn't look a day over thirty-five. And while there were some new faces, I don't think vampires eat hot turkey and gravy sandwiches." Kaoru growled. "And we would have heard something if people were disappearing. Which they aren't."

"You never know!" Misao muttered. "They could be fattening you… all the better to eat you." She heaped a large bite of rice up to her mouth and shrugged.

Deciding to finish her food and ignore Misao, they both managed to polish off their plates in record time.

"What did you really mean when you said that you thought there was some mental illness in the family, Misao?" Kaoru asked as she started cleaning the dishes. "Or were you just making that up?"

"Hmmm, no, I've really heard something. I think it was… I don't know when it was. I shall have to ask. Anyway, I think it was the current Himura's grandfather… he might have been engaged to a woman from some line of mage blood….I think. Engaged or married. No… it would have to have been engaged, because it was called off. I think she claimed that the man was insane. Apparently whatever it is, the son and grandson both suffer from it as well. You don't really hear a lot about their wives. Anyway, there was some vague mutterings of a curse or something for a while, but I haven't heard that one in ages."

"Really?"

"Yeah, well with the history of mages of magic this town has, does it surprise you? I think even one of those big professors from the University of Spells and Sorcery came down to look at town half a century back or something." Misao swirled noodles around her chop sticks. "I think my great-aunt was very taken with him, if I remember the stories right. Too bad that the mage talent in the family tends to skip around; rumor has it she was very put out by his rejection."

Kaoru kicked the dishwasher shut and frowned. "Mom never said anything about that when I went to go work there and you know how mom felt about magic."

"Point… but Himura wasn't in the country, right? Anyway, it's not as if you are going to have lots of extensive contact with the man. The most that might happen is he might stare or something out that window, but if he really is insane he won't be looking at you; he will be staring at fluffy pink clouds or gigantic purple elephants."

"Misao, you're the only person who has ever seen purple elephants." Kaoru pointed out in amusement. "Sophomore year in high school? Chemistry class?"

"I was on drugs and they were blue elephants, thank you. Bright, neon _blue_. And if I, being the _perfectly sane_ person that I am, can see these sorts of things, then a man with a mental illness is not one who can be suggested as _not_ having seen them." Misao pointed out with a sniff. "For that, I am eating another piece of cake."

Kaoru sighed. "You would have eaten another piece of cake even if I hadn't insulted you."

"Too true," Misao said with a smile. "But at least this way I am morally justified in the stealing of cake. Otherwise, I would have just been sneaky."

Kaoru rolled her eyes and washed her hands, ignoring the obnoxious sounds that Misao was making between each bite of her cake.

"Be off with you," Kaoru scolded. "I need to go to bed if I am going to get to the mansion before it's real hot in the morning. I need sleep too. A full stomach and exhausted body means I am not going to be awake much longer whether I am lying down or not."

"Oh, all right," Misao jumped looked over at her and bit her lip. "If you need anything…"

"I get paid on Friday," Kaoru reminded her gently. "Which means I should make my car payment on time this month; the money isn't fabulous, but it's enough. Between that and the money I might be making on Saturday…"

"I still can't believe that Gohei person stole all your students!" Misao said in a cranky tone, her brows pulling downwards in displeasure.

"They have the right to choose. Kamiya Kasshin just isn't as fancy as his style… whatever it may be. I haven't really had time to check it out. It doesn't matter. The combat tournaments will start back up in August and either my students prove themselves or they don't. I can't worry about that until then."

Misao sighed and shrugged. "Well, then I wish you luck. Try to wear sunscreen tomorrow, all right? Your face is very pink. You're going to look like a shedding lizard."

Kaoru threw the dishtowel at her.

X

The world was dark in shadows and thick. Snarling, he stared at his sleeping garden and dug his fists into the earth. She had been here. Moving silently forward, he reached forward to dig his claws into the fresh earth around the flowers that she had worked with. He could taste her in the air.

Snarling, he arched his back and howled.

X

Kaoru looked at the clock on her dashboard and yawned a little; it was early enough just looking at the time was enough to make her tired. Thank goodness for her coffee pot. She had found the time to work in a kata before work to work her sore muscles loose but she could have used another hour or two of sleep.

Turning her car slowly down the cobblestone road that might have actually been the original, Kaoru made the turns she had been instructed to take in order to locate the employee parking. Visitors were required to park before they came to the mansion and had a good hike up the path. Bicycles were allowed through the gates as long as they stayed off the grass. Stepping out of her car and into the warm morning air, she locked the door and pocketed her keys. If there wasn't a nail available in the shed she was working out of today, there would be soon.

Groggily wondering if Tae had coffee, Kaoru looked up the path to the house. At the top of the hill stood a tall, severe looking man that Kaoru hadn't seen before. He stared down at her for a long moment before turning on his heel and disappearing.

Now what had that been about?

Shaking off her unease, she headed up the house. It didn't take her long to wheedle a cup of java and a biscuit out of Tae and find herself hip deep in the garden again.

The plants were being difficult. She was absolutely certain that plants didn't think or move on their own, but the plants here were… personable. It felt as if they were absorbing everything she said so that she wasn't left with even an echo. Beyond that first little scratch, none of the thorns had come near her skin, which surprised her. She usually had to wear gloves after the first couple of days because she always miscalculated the thorns. Still, her left side was plastered with dirt and there was a rock in her shoe; she was damp from the knees down and sweating profusely.

"Now," she informed the plant in front of her. "This is for your own good."

Opening the kink she had put into the hose, she sprayed the heavy green of the plants for a long time. She was careful not to ruin the blooms but the spray would remove whatever grime was clinging to the plants and help with the ant and bug problem she had noticed. Once the water was turned off, she went back to the bush to examine the plants.

"Well, I think that should do it. As long as you don't start wilting again, I won't have to use any pesticides." Thankfully, the flowers didn't have fungi growing on them; she would have to do more than just simple pruning then. Wiping her hands off on her shorts, she rubbed the small of her back. She had picked up the habit of talking to flowers from her mother – much to the amusement of anyone who heard her – she scolded and hummed to the plants as she worked.

"Once you're healthy again, you'll feel much better," Kaoru assured the pale rose buds in front of her, reaching out to brush the edges with her fingertip.

"You _talk_ to _flowers_?"

The voice was young and male; cracking slightly to show that he was hitting his awkward years. Turning around, Kaoru blinked at the teenage boy staring back at her, his wild hair held back by a black bandana. He was dressed in cut off jean shorts and a dark green tank top. By the looks of him, he had been busy working somewhere.

"You don't?" Kaoru asked with a smile. "I haven't seen you around here before."

The boy frowned at her for a moment and then crossed him arms. "I'm Yahiko. Sano sent me over to make sure you didn't need help with anything since I can't do my normal job with all the people running around."

Kaoru blinked in surprise, trying to put a face with that name. "Sano?"

"Tall man who always has a toothpick in his mouth," Yahiko described, using his hands to motion the word 'tall'. "Do you need help or not?"

Kaoru dusted her hands again and smiled. "Actually, yes, my knees aren't as young as they used to be so you _can_ be of use. I'm making sure that the only thing bothering the plants are the ants."

"Ants?"

"When I was little, my mom grew roses behind our home. One year, they started to wither and curl like the ones over there," she pointed to the wheel barrel she had been tossing bits and ends into. "When they do that, they produce a clear substance that attracts ants. They spread diseases, so we have to prune the plants and then wash them. I hate to use pesticides, but we might have to."

Yahiko gave a long-suffering sigh, then squatted down and made a disgusted noise.

"What?"

"The ground is all wet." Yahiko said in disgust. "Wet mulch is gross."

"Supposedly you're the boy out of the two of us," she muttered under her breath. "It's wet because I sprayed all the plants down, remember? If you find something that looks odd, cut it off and let me see it."

"Why?"

"Because nature's way is always best to try first," she replied.

Yahiko sneered. "You learn that from a book?"

"Actually, my mother passed that along," Kaoru responded.

"So you're just one big rose growing family?"

"Hardly," she said with a smile, moving to the plant next to the one that Yahiko was looking at. "Dad didn't have time for anything flower related, he was too busy working in the dojo."

"Dojo," Yahiko said suddenly looking interested, "You have a dojo?"

"Yes," Kaoru said in amusement. "It's been in my family for generations."

"Does it have its own style?" The boy looked like he was trying to suppress his excitement. "Aunt Tae didn't like the first place I went to, but she said if I found someone else to teach me I could still learn."

"I only give lessons on weekends for beginners because I am here during the weekdays," Kaoru told him, as she stood again. The plants looked clean. "My beginner class starts at nine."

There was silence. Then: "You're the instructor?" Yahiko's voice was incredulous.

"Yes, I have been a Master of it for a few years now."

Yahiko's mouth was moving like a fish out of water.

Kaoru gave him an amused look. "What?"

"But… if you work in the dojo why are you here?" Yahiko demanded, waving his arms. "Aren't instructors supposed to offer classes everyday?"

"I don't have enough students to rely on just my teaching right now," Kaoru said finally, struggling to keep her tones neutral. "So I work here."

There was silence for a long time. "If I brought my bokken, could you show me some moves?"

"I won't show you anything if you're going to shirk your work," Kaoru responded firmly. Planting a fist on her hip, she studied him. "However, if I have the time and you are finished with whatever it is you do… then I don't see a problem."

She turned away then, not really needing to see his response to that. It was in his voice, that all consuming drive to learn which had held her in its grip all through childhood and college.

"Now, perhaps you can show me that you actually _have_ a work ethic by helping me check on these roses?"

The rest of the morning was spent in Yahiko's company. He pestered her on everything from what bokken she preferred, to which tournaments she had won. He quizzed her about the principles of Kamiya Kasshin and how long it would take him to learn it, until she sprayed him down with the water hose to get him to stop.

"You looked a little warm," Kaoru said with a snicker, turning off the hose and rolling it up to go back into the wheelbarrow. "I didn't think you would mind."  
Turning to look at the house to hide her laughter as Yahiko started to splutter, Kaoru blinked in surprise as she caught sight of a figure standing in a large window. The light reflecting off the glass was too bright to let her see who it was, so she simply lifted a hand in greeting and went back to work.

"That's Mr. Himura's office window," Yahiko said suddenly.

Kaoru turned and looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"The office overlooks the rose gardens." Yahiko said with a shrug. "It's his favorite part of the mansion."

"You seem to know a lot about what goes around down here," Kaoru commented, looking at him in surprise. "How long have you worked here?"

"I _live_ here," Yahiko replied as took control of the wheelbarrow. "I moved in with Tae when I was eight." There was something defensive in his tone and Kaoru decided not to step any closer to that sore spot than she had to.

"It seems like an interesting place to grow up," Kaoru commented, before gathering her tools and motioning Yahiko to the next bed. When she was finally satisfied that Yahiko knew what he was doing, Kaoru started brushing through the plants again.

"Why do you care so much about the flowers?" Yahiko's voice came out of nowhere and Kaoru turned and blinked. "I know Mr. Himura does, but why do you?"

"I like flowers," Kaoru said blinking. "They respond to the hard work you put into them and you can always see your efforts reflected in how they look. Besides, they're very pretty and pretty things are hard to find sometimes." Kaoru hesitated. "Why does Mr. Himura like them so much?"

Yahiko gave her a thoughtful look before going back to what he was doing. "They're his most prized possession," he finally answered. "It wouldn't surprise me if he decided to meet you soon. You're working on something that's important to him and all…"

Kaoru frowned, considering that. "Huh."

X

Kaoru was sitting on a chair.

In front of her, there was a fireplace filled with low burning coals that she didn't recognize. She held a book in her hand and her feet were cushioned in soft slippers; somehow she knew she wasn't alone. She turned slowly, her fingers tightening on the chair when she heard a low growling noise. Like a large dog… but it didn't sound right. Licking her lips, she stared into the darkness around the room that the fire didn't warm.

Forcing herself not to flinch back into the chair, she scanned the room slowly, searching for any sign of the creature that was making those noises. Something flickered in the corner of her eye and she found herself staring into liquid gold…

Kaoru sat straight up in bed. Swallowing, she reached over and fumbled for the light on the nightstand. The letters on her alarm clock were a violent red and glared and she almost knocked her lamp over. As soon as the light flickered on Kaoru glanced around the room frantically, looking for anything out of place. Needing to know where she was. Home. Nothing was there. She had stuff down her desire to locate a bokken. Pressing hands to her cheeks she took several deep breaths before she shivered and curled in on her stomach in an attempt to stop the fizzy nerves that had taken residence in her gut and to slow her breathing. It was just a nightmare. Taking slow, even breaths, it took a long time before she was able to sleep again.

She left the light on.

X

Kaoru walked into the kitchen, wondering if Tae had lunch ready yet. After her dream the night before she had decided to get an early start and recruited Yahiko and his tall friend, Sano, into her helping her finish up. It had taken her far less time than she had anticipated. Now there were just a few more bed of roses to be trimmed. Then her daily work would be cut nearly in half. All that she would have to keep up with on a regular basis now as the occasional weed killing, checking for disease and other miscellaneous jobs would keep her busy. That would cut her work hours down a little and give her some time to explore the rest of the garden. She didn't think she had found all the nooks and crannies yet.

Today, lunch was an assortment of cold cuts with fresh bread, fruit, cheese, and some of Tae's excellent oatmeal-cranberry cookies. Fixing her sandwich and accepting a tall glass of lemonade, Kaoru found an empty place in the dinning area and settled in to eat. It was too hot to eat outdoors today so she wasn't surprised when Sano and Yahiko came trooping in, both covered in dirt and sweat. Kaoru supposed she should get used to smelly men, but between Yahiko's teenage smell and Sano's normal manly odor, she really just wanted _clean_ female company. Maybe she would call Misao and invite her over for pizza. She could pick it up on her way home…

Sano took one look at her and plopped down across from her and somehow fit half of his sandwich into his mouth. He chewed for several long moments while Kaoru blinked at him. When Yahiko looked like he was going to try to do the same, Kaoru kicked him.

"Just because Sano eats like a half-starved wild animal does not mean you can." Kaoru informed him when he yelped and dropped the sandwich back onto his plate. She eyed the food for a long moment.

"Yahiko… what are you eating?"

"Peanut butter and salami," Yahiko said as he glared at her. "It's good! Stop giving me that look."

Kaoru turned back to her turkey sandwich and decided to thank whatever culinary gods were out there that she hadn't been given _those_ taste buds.

"So, Missy," Sano said as he swallowed. He paused, studied the sandwich before peeling off the top layer of bread and layering it with the barbeque chips on his plate. "What are your plans for this afternoon? You know Tae is getting a little upset that you keep working when it's so hot outside."

Kaoru rolled her eyes as she chewed. Swallowing, she took a long drink from her lemonade. "I plan on finishing the pruning of the flowers. It's not really that hot outside and…"

"Your nose is still peeling from the last time you burned," Sano interrupted. "If you haven't noticed, you're not really the type that tans; you sort of burn, peel, burn… like an onion."

Kaoru paused from where she was lifting her sandwich.

"Did you just call me an onion?" she demanded in disbelief.

"A red, ugly onion," Yahiko pitched in.

Kaoru narrowed her eyes, but before she could retaliate, Tae stuck her head around the corner.

"Kaoru, if you don't mind working in the house today several of the indoor plants need trimming and repotting. I would ask Sano or Yahiko to do it, but the last time they tried they killed one of the miniature figs."

Sano looked indignant, but with his cheeks puffed up full of cookie he was unable to reply. Kaoru decided that it was a conspiracy, and promised herself that she would get everything done in record time, so she simply nodded around the last of her sandwich. Picking up her plate and slapping at Sano's fingers as he tried to steal the cookies she followed Tae into the kitchen.

"I can start now," Kaoru offered as she rescued the last cookie from her plate.

"That would be wonderful. Mr. Himura is currently in a meeting across town so if you want to check the plants in his office first, that would be best. Here," Tae fished into her apron pocket and pulled out a list. "These are the plants that need trimming and watering; and here are the plants that need to be repotted. If you don't get it all done today before it cools off enough to go back outside that's fine, you can simply finish it during the heat of the day tomorrow."

Kaoru made a face at that idea, but obediently headed up the stairs to start checking on the plants armed with a duster, a water jug and a pair of small sheers to trim. Biting her lip at the sudden wrack of nerves she couldn't explain, Kaoru rapped on the office door. Tae had said Himura was out but there was no reason not to be cautious. When there was no answer, she opened the door and looked around. There was small ivy, a flowering hanging plant and a small tree in the office, but that was all.

It took her five minutes to clip, water, and dust the plants and then she was heading down the hall. Something shivered down her spine and she shivered. Pausing, she glanced around the hall way and frowned when she saw nothing.

'Buck up, Kamiya. It's just the dream you had last night.' She was just being jumpy.

She spent a lot longer than she had anticipated checking on plants. It was a good two hours after lunch that she managed to escape Tae's clutches and bolt back into the outside world. Yahiko and Sano were nowhere to be found and she wasn't very excited about the idea of mulching so she decided to take some time to meander through the gardens.

She wondered why she never saw Himura out and about. If she lived here she would find ways to get outside to enjoy the roses and the sunshine. Even if for just a few moments every afternoon, yet after almost a week worth's of work she hadn't seen him. Frowning, she glanced around. The area was a carefully created maze of old stone walls and clever vines. An opening caught her attention and she decided she could waste a little time exploring. Ducking under an overhanging, she was surprised to find the small glade covered in roses. A low bench was pressed against a wall and there was a little koi pond that was well cared for by someone; or wards… although she came up with nothing after a quick scan of the area.

Her eyes were drawn back to the flowers.

The climbing roses along the wall were breathtaking. The outside petals were a dark bronzy-red; the inner petals a buttery golden orange color. The plants were heavy with blooms and desperately needed to be pruned. Against the gray washed stone, the roses seemed to give off an artificial light.

But it was the rose bush at the center of the alcove that had her moving forward in delight. The plant was in obvious need of care. The ends of the leaves were curling in the heat and the roses were dropping, but nothing took away from the beauty of the blossoms. Petals that were dark red -- so dark the outer edges looked almost black; except for where the sun touched the half-hidden petals, turning them rich velvet.

Reaching out, Kaoru stroked a healthy bloom. Something sparkled and burned against her fingertip for a moment and she jerked her hand back. When the sensation faded, she hesitantly tried again. This time she felt nothing.

"Well… whatever that was, it's apparent that you need some care."

Standing up, she dusted the dirt off her bare knees and left, making a mental note of the paths she had taken. Filling a wheelbarrow full of mulch and setting a bag of fertilizer on top of that, Kaoru wheeled it down the stone path.

Pushing her weapons of choice into the alcove, Kaoru got to work. She started with the center plant first, preening away the dead branches and the dead blooms. When she was finished, the plant looked small but healthy. Taking her spade Kaoru carefully broke up the dirt and mixed in the fertilizer that the plant needed desperately. When she was finished, she dumped what water she had left in her water bottle and made a mental note to come back with buckets later. After spreading a thick layer of mulch around the base of the plants, she sat back on her knees and studied her work.

The small plant looked much healthier than it had and she nodded to herself.

"That's much better. Once you're bigger, I'll take a cutting and plant it somewhere else. You're too pretty to hide back here."

Petting the flowers on last time, Kaoru got to work on the rest of the plants. By the time she was done, her barrel was full of pruned blooms and she was covered in dirt and sweat. The tight sensation at the back of her neck told her she was burned again and she sighed. Gathering up the last of her tools, she pushed the wheelbarrow back onto the path.

Checking her watch, she pondered how much time she would have before she had to head home. The sun was just starting to set so she had at least two, maybe three hours until true dark. Biting her lip, she considered shutting down for the day but then decided against it. She really wanted to get all the major work done by this weekend so she could spend it working at her dojo and not worrying about things here.

And she was starting to see flickers of light out of the corner of her eyes which meant that it was really time for her to get some sleep.

"Well, no point in dumping you lot in the mulch pile until I add a few more."

Besides, she had felt skittish and silly all afternoon until she jumped at the slightest noise heard. Twice she had seen what she thought was a shadow out of the corner of her eye. She needed the outdoors to clear her head before she headed back to the dojo.

Satisfied, she headed out to work.

X

Rough calloused fingers ran over the cracked glad that framed a tiny, hand painted portrait. The dark, laughing eyes that stared back were not enough this time. Heat and wild, almost uncontrollable rage beat against the restraints he had chained it in and he shuddered with it.

A soft, welcome knock brought him back. The thick scent of meat and bread caught his attention and he was able to gain back the control that was so close to slipping. It sank claws into him, refusing to release completely even as he straightened to his full height, setting back against his heels like a human.

A flimsy shield that continued to hold.

Tae bustled in and arranged plats and a mug of thickly spiced tea.

"She found the roses." His voice sounded rough, strained against his ears and he turned abruptly away. The china she was serving him with rattled hard.

"Did…. I mean, how did the flowers react?" Tae asked slowly, carefully.

"They like her." Now he just sounded weary. "It won't be long before someone notices. She will come soon."

The garden was waking up. He could feel it against his skin and at night, when the sun took his flimsy shields with it… he could hear them. They spoke softly of dark hair and laughter, of _warmth_. Sharp nails bit into his palm as he struggled to control the urge to go down into the garden. He could almost taste her in his garden. The beast roared to life in his mind and _demanded_; it was the sounds of Tae clinking around the cart gave him the will to pull back from that abyss.

Tae bit her lip, looking at her master for a long time. He looked tired. There were dark circles under his eyes and his skin was pale, but his eyes were over-bright. There was such little comfort that she could give him.

"She's a smart girl. She'll manage to take care of herself."

He said nothing for long moments. When he finally spoke, Tae sighed. It was clear he wasn't ready to discuss Kaoru yet.

"Thank you for the tea. Please, do not let me keep you."

Tae gave a slight curtsey, knowing how tightly he grasped formality to shield them from what beat through his veins; what had been done to his magic. "I will return in an hour to collect your plates. Dinner will be served at seven."

"Thank you."

The door shut softly, leaving him to his demons.

X

The gardens didn't do as much good as she had hoped. Several times, she had thought she heard a woman's voice on the breeze, the words indistinguishable and upset. She had looked around a few times to see if Tae was calling for her, but she was alone. She knew she was alone.

Then there was the fact that the shed she had locked up the night before had been put back into perfect order, again. She had scanned the place several times looking for cleaning wards or some sort of strange runes, but had found nothing. So that meant human hands… or magic she knew nothing about. She was going to have to track down this invisible help at some point and make it clear that she could clean up her own messes.

To force herself to concentrate on something besides her over active imagination she had wandered deep into a patch of pale roses to check on how they were doing and to do some basic weeding. She felt safer surrounded on all sides by flowers and the little path she had used to wiggle this deep was just the right size. Sano wouldn't have been able to follow her in but she thought Yahiko might've. It was silly, but she was relieved to be out of the taunting wind.

Rubbing her stiff neck, she turned to head back along the path she had walked in on and found herself staring at a thick hedge of roses. With no small opening. Peering at the flowers, she nervously rubbed her arms. The path was gone. Looking around, she found herself completely caged in by the thick plants. She found herself staring blankly at the high, thorn sharp vines that had somehow caged her in disbelief.

Roses did not just _move_. Kaoru put her hands on her hips, forcing bravado to hide sudden terror that clawed at her throat.

"Now, this is not amusing." Kaoru informed the air around her. She didn't have anything to hack a path out. Carefully, she tried to push some of the plants to one side. Thorns dug into her palms, forcing her to let them go.

"No need to be cranky," she muttered. It wasn't as if the plants were alive… and it wasn't as if the plants could actually _move_, either. _Dammit_… she had no way of knowing if this was some sort of magical defense – but magic wasn't suppose to work like this. She could see the garden lights shining, so she took a deep breath. Someone had to turn the lights off at some point.

"Hello? Gensai, Sano, Yahiko? Are you out there?" Wiping sweaty palms on her shorts, she tried again. "_Hello_?"

No one answered and her voice echoed funnily back at her.

Swallowing, she sat down before her knees could give out. Wrapping her arms around her knees Kaoru stared at the plants. What was she supposed to do? She supposed she could write this off as… no; there was nothing to write this off _as_. Even Misao's crazy theories about magic didn't help this time and she doubted her friend would consider this normal; Misao had a very high threshold for strange. Oh, she supposed magic could do this but _why_? This was not her first time to work after dark!

As long as the lights were on she would be okay. It was a warm night and someone had to walk by at some point… Her heart jumped into her throat when those bright lights suddenly flicked off, leaving her in the dark.

"_Hello_!"

This time she screamed it. Nothing. Not even an echo.

"I'm not scared," Kaoru whispered to herself. "I'm not frightened by _moving plants_."

Except she was and the wind was picking up, whistling around her little nest of roses; she could almost hear something trying to catch her attention and she took a deep breath. And sat back down.

"Fine." she said finally, curling on her side. "I guess I'll just wait."

She just wished she knew what she was waiting for.

X

The garden was a different kind of beautiful at night. With the lights off he could slid along the paths by moonlight, letting the warm earth tell him its secrets. Curling his claws into the earth, he tilted his head back and breathed.

His eyes opened into yellow slits. There was someone here, in his territory. Snarling, he prowled along the paths, hunting. The flowers were aware and alert and his cheek brushed one particularly vibrant blossom; the image it gave him stopped him.

_Kaoru_.

His skin itched as and his vision swam for a moment as the wildness of his magic clawed to the surface. Heat stroked along his spine as it deliberately reminded him of the sensations that had brushed against his soul a particularly rose bush.

And now it was blooming, growing for the first time since _her_. Taking deep breaths through clenched teeth, he managed to force the howling in his mind back; the urge to shred his clothing and to race through his garden was strong tonight. He couldn't quite shake it, but retained enough thought to push himself to his feet to walk.

Then he caught an all together different vision and his vision went red with rage. _She was here. _

When he regained control of himself, he was crouched on all fours, deep in a thicket of flowers, mulch digging into his hands. Soft flower voices whispered to him as he battled for control and so it took him several moments to realize he wasn't alone. Staring at the sleeping figure, he shivered. The plants had wanted to keep her among them – to protect what was theirs. It echoed and burned along his magic and he paced forward.

She cared for _them_. And they wanted her to care for him. Clawed fingers curled around dark strands of hair and he had to fight to hold himself in check. He wanted to taste her throat. To feel the softness of her skin under his mouth and tongue; she had touched his soul when she had tended a single plant and how he wanted to return that favor. Instead, he brushed his fingers along her nose where the skin was peeling from a burn and then down the smooth line of her cheek. Softly, so not to disturb her even in the sleep the roses had given her.

Hunger and tension built low and trembled through his limbs. Smooth cheekbones, soft lips and thick lashes that fanned on her cheeks like fans. _Blue_. Her eyes were blue. With her dark hair tangled around her face and loose around her body, she did look like she belonged under the roses. _Belonged to him_.

Taking a deep breath, he managed to slip an arm under her knees and behind her neck. It was so easy to press his nose against her skin and to breathe _her in_. So light. So vulnerable. He stilled when her throat vibrated with sound under his mouth. The howling in his mind tugged at him, demanding that he curl around her under the moonlight and his roses. To protect her from the danger that _she _would bring.

Gritting his teeth, he moved slowly back into the mansion.

X

Kaoru woke slowly, pressing her face into the soft pillow and shifting languorously beneath the thick covers. After several nights of exhausted sleep and then the nightmare, for once she felt rested. The soft warmth of the sheets was heavenly around her body and the sound of rain beating against panes of glass coaxed her to stay and hide under the covers. It had to be early since her alarm had yet to go off, but she had no desire to open her eyes to see how much longer she could lie in bed. Burrowing even further, she curled up under her pillow to block any light and drowsed, letting awareness slowly creep into her mind.

Forcing herself to push up enough to look around the edge of her blankets, she frowned at the utter darkness. Her room was never this pleasantly dark. Come to think of it, this didn't feel like her bed either. Reaching out to the side of the bed, her jerked when her hand hit thick material. Fisting her hand in what must have been heavy drapes, she pulled them to the side.

The room most certainly went with the bed, if not with her home. Sitting up, she looked down and grimaced. Wherever she was, she hadn't changed or showered. Feeling dirty and a little disgusted with herself, she pushed herself off the bed and looked for a door. Finding one, she stepped out into a familiar hallway and frowned.

Why had she spent the night at the mansion? She tried to remember what happened last night and frowned at the vague memories. It was if the edges of whatever had occurred had been blurred so she couldn't quite put her finger on what had happened. Before she could get too worked up, Tae came around the corner and stopped in surprise before smiling and moving forward.

"Kaoru, it's still very early. You should be sleeping." Tae scolded as she walked over, wiping her hands on her apron. "Why are you up?"

Kaoru looked at the clock on the wall and felt her eyes go wide. "It's eight-thirty!" Kaoru protested. "I am… never mind. Why am I here?" Kaoru demanded before tugging at the hem of her shirt. "I woke up in my work clothes."

"You have been working too hard," Tae said firmly, ushering her out of the kitchen. "Mr. Himura says that he found you asleep under the roses and brought you back. I was out for the evening with a friend and he didn't think it proper for him to change you. Really, Kaoru, if you are working that hard then I am going to insist that you take a break!"

Somehow Tae got her up the stairs and Kaoru found herself back in the room she had woken in.

"Now, I shall round you up something to change into and you can step into the shower if you like. The towels are fresh and the bathroom is fully stocked. I will change the sheets while you shower, so if you want you can nap a little before breakfast. It's raining so I am fixing a brunch while the household sleeps in." Tae ordered as she pulled the comforter off the bed and then stripped the sheets with a brisk proficiency that startled Kaoru.

"Everyone is sleeping in?"

"I suppose Gensai didn't tell you? No, I suppose not, its summer we hardly get rain… when it storms the grounds staff only work half days and only then if the rain lets up. Otherwise, we just spend the afternoon doing light work inside the house. No point in tracking mud and mulch around the mansion and getting sick in the process. Now," Tae said as she looked at a door that must have been the shower, "into the shower with you."

X

Kaoru tugged at the hem of the shirt she wore a little self-consciously. She had changed into the clothes Tae had provided and they smelled of ginger and roses. She had stood in her bathroom in borrowed under things for ten minutes, trying to place where she had smelled that combination before. A memory naggingly tugged at her mind but she was unable to place it.

The pants were as male as her shirt and she had been thankful for the drawstrings that she had used to tighten them around her hips. They must have belonged to Yahiko or someone as equally short because she only had to roll the legs twice to keep from tripping.

Tae had insisted that she nap once she was clean and she had given in, crawling back into the soft bed until a sweet faced girl had woken her a few moments ago for the morning meal. To Kaoru's disbelieving eyes, the clock read almost eleven. By the time she made it downstairs, the dinning area was already full. Several faces she didn't know were hunched over plates. One of them had the most unusual shade of red hair that she had ever seen. Heading to the buffet, she filled a plate and sat down on the unoccupied chair next to Sano and tucked in, ignoring the curious looks in her direction.

"'Morning, Kaoru," Sano said around a mouthful of biscuit. "Did you sleep well?"

Kaoru lifted a brow as she washed down her biscuit with a swing of coffee and nodded.

"I am pleased that you were able to rest," the voice came from her right and Kaoru turned to meet the eyes of the redhead sitting next to her. His expression was kind as he smiled.

"I'm Kenshin."

Kaoru found herself staring and tried to look away, but she had never seen eyes like that. The violet was calm, but there were the faint threads of gold glittering at her, promising something wild. It reminded her of something untamed and she stared at her plate and shoveled up a forkful of eggs before looking back up at him.

He hadn't glanced away.

"Nice to meet you," Kaoru said finally. It wasn't until she has halfway into her other biscuit that she realized where she had heard that name before. Kenshin. Kenshin Himura. She swallowed wrong and ended up coughing hard into her napkin while Sano tried to beat her lungs out of her chest. As she blinked watery eyes, she kicked him under the table when it was obvious he was attempting to hide his amusement.

"What are you going to do today?" Sano asked as he leaned back with a satisfied sigh.

"Well, I can't work outside because of the rain so I thought…"

"You're taking the day off," Tae's voice cut into the conversation as she brought out a fresh pot of coffee. "Even if you didn't have those circles under your eyes there isn't anything for you to do here. I would have called you myself and asked for you to stay home today but you rode your bike over yesterday so you might as well stay here."

Kaoru frowned. "Surely there is something…"

"Kaoru," Kenshin's voice was soft, but it caught everyone's attention. The faint growl in his tone surprised her. "Please, feel free to make yourself at home here. Our intentions are not to work you to the bone. Take the day off."

Kaoru turned and blinked at him. There was more gold in his eyes now. "But," Kaoru said hesitantly, not sure if she should provoke him. "I'm here to work."

"Consider it a paid holiday for all the overtime and hard work you have been putting in my roses," Kenshin said firmly as he stood.

"But…"

"Say thank you," Kenshin suggested, one hand slipping into a pocket with a faint smile.

Kaoru frowned for a long moment before sighing. "Thank you, Mr. Himura."

She couldn't help the scowl that was etched across her face.

"Kenshin," Mr. Himura corrected softly before turning away. Kaoru watched him walk away, wondering what he did. She normally only associated the grace of his movements with some training.

"Well," Sano said cheerfully. "What does that mean you are going to do now?"

Kaoru kicked him for good measure.

X

She had felt like a delinquent for most of the afternoon, hiding from Tae and her small army of helpers that were determined she spend the day doing nothing. Somehow, she had made her way into a library. To her delight, the old fireplace was already lit. A smile curling the edges of her lips, she shut the door softly before racing to the huge windows that were covered by thick drapes. Wrenching them open, she pressed her nose up against the glass and smiled at the sight of the garden drenched by heavy sheets of rain. It would take some work to clean up the debris tomorrow, but the image was _beautiful_.

She managed to pull back all the drapes, shedding light on the circular room. Even with the storm, there would be enough light that she could read, especially with the fireplace taking the chill out of the air. If she was going to be forced to have a holiday when she should have been at home working at the dojo, she could at least read. Heading over to the bookcase, she scanned the titles until she found one that was familiar and pulled it from a shelf.

She ended up spending the morning sprawled out on a couch, going through the book and drowsing, rousing herself to put another log on the fire occasionally. She completely lost track of time and had been horribly embarrassed when Tae had brought her lunch. She wasn't even sure how Tae had known where she was. If anyone had magic in the mansion like Misao hoped they did, Kaoru was putting money on Tae.

The soup had been hot and filling, and to her surprise, once she had a full stomach, she had ended up fighting off a nap. She considered heading back to the room she had slept in, but decided she didn't have the energy. Placing her book on the table, she yawned and shut her eyes.

Surely she wouldn't nap that long.

X

Kenshin rubbed his bloodshot eyes. Today had been difficult. Even a run through his wet garden, feeling the storm thunder in his chest hadn't lessoned the surging tide of anger rushing through him. He had found signs of _her_ in his garden. Snapping his teeth, he moved through his manor, stripping his clothing once he reached his room and grabbing blindly for something soft; a pair of gray pants, a white button up shirt, what he wore did not matter. He dragged a towel through his hair before he tied it back again. It wasn't enough to trap him in the veneer of a man, but it gave him something to cling to.

The carpet in his home caressed his bare feet while he moved down the hall, letting his mind wander as he rubbed a hand over his face. It was when he neared the library that he realized he had been tracking Kaoru though his home unconsciously. Swearing softly, but unable to find the willpower to turn away, he pushed open the door silently and looked around the room, every breath bringing him her scent. It wasn't until he looked at the long couch by the fire that he saw her, sprawled out like some sort of cat.

He crossed the room on silent feet.

Her breathing was deep and even, the warm fire and rain having lulled her into an impromptu nap. His eyes paused on her stocking-clad feet, considering just how small they were before working their way up the line of her legs, lingering on the way his pants fit against the curves of her body. His gut clenched and he took a deep breath, reaching forward to run his hands down her ponytail, breath shuddering as the soft strands clung to his fingers.

It was dangerous to tempt the beast and his magic this way. It was clamoring to the surface, heat flooding his veins so that he had to close his eyes and force it back.

Crouching down – damning himself for it – he watched her sleep.

X

Kaoru woke to the sound of the fire crackling and the faint clinking of good china. Slowly opening her eyes, she found herself staring at Kenshin's back as he stoked the fire. His hair flickered strangely in the fire and there was something strange about the way he was balancing his weight. Sleepily, her eyes scanned down the curved line of his spine, her mind drowsily admiring the curve of something else, before she found herself starring at something else. The man had bare feet.

"You're not wearing any socks." She watched the line of shoulders tense, a fine shudder roll down his body. Stretching a little, Kaoru put her face back into the couch.

"Do you need me to leave?" The pillows muffled her voice, but she thought he heard her. She felt lazy and disconnected.

"No," Kenshin said finally, voice deep. Kaoru finally pushed herself up to see that he had stood and walked over to a tray. That had been the noise she had heard. "Tae brought an afternoon snack. You're welcome to join me."

Kaoru pushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"I'm your gardener," Kaoru reminded him as she tucked her legs up onto the couch and studied the way he moved. He had to have training. It was all smooth muscle and male control. Shaking her head, she lifted her eyes to his face when he offered her a mug of something that looked warm.

"Hot chocolate," His mouth curved a little when he caught her surprise. "Gardeners get hungry as well, I'm told."

His voice was teasing and she blinked in surprise and didn't argue when he put together two plates. Hers he piled with little éclairs and what she thought might have been either chicken salad or egg salad sandwiches. For his own he didn't touch the sweets, just filled it with those little sandwiches. Each movement was precise, delicately careful and she wondered at the almost strained control of his movements.

"Can I get you anything else?"

"I think I'll just try to get through that first," Kaoru muttered, accepting the plate with her free hand and blinking at the food. Where to start? Clearly, she had to start somewhere, because Kenshin wasn't touching his food. Once she took a bite of the sandwich – it _was_ chicken – he followed suit. Kaoru didn't actually really see him eat any of it, but he filled his plate twice more while she nibbled. He had to be one of those men who couldn't gain weight.

"I haven't gotten a chance to thank you properly for taking such good care of my roses." Kenshin said once she set her plate down to concentrate on her hot chocolate. He absorbed the surprised look in her eyes, letting her emotions soak in as far as he could in the hopes of containing his beast.

"It's my job," Kaoru pointed out. She rolled the mug slowly in her hands. "I like my job, so I do my best. No thanks are necessary. My paycheck is good enough thanks for me."

She tried to hide the curl of pleasure in her stomach at his words. Everyone liked to be appreciated. She was slightly uncomfortable at the heated look in his eyes so she took a sip of her hot chocolate and tried to change the subject.

"How did this place come to having such a wonderful collection? There are some roses here I have never seen before." She let her mind wander to those roses that were so dark a red they were almost black, showcased by the orange-y bronze roses. She really needed to get a cutting.

"My mother loved roses, as did my grandmother. I grew to have a… special appreciation for them some years ago." His tone held a note that kept Kaoru from asking another question.

Even so, there was something comfortable in the silence between them as they finished off the hot chocolate. Kaoru was watching the fire lazily when Kenshin stood.

"I should leave you to your peace." He gave her another of those bewildering smiles. "Enjoy your afternoon."

Kaoru watched him leave, baffled by his behavior. There had been something… _warm_ in his expression. Rich, eccentric types with insanity in the family were sure strange.

X

Kaoru sighed, kicking the wall irritably. How it was that Tae had managed to talk her into spending another night was beyond her. True, her work clothes had been cleaned and she would be able to sleep in a little, but she just wasn't comfortable taking advantage of Himura's kindness like this. Tugging on her bangs, she sighed. Her argument with Tae had not gone as well as she could have hoped. It hadn't gone anywhere.

She supposed she could have found a phone and called Misao to come pick her up but that seemed… underhanded. Not that Tae seemed to mind underhand tactics. Flopping down onto the bed, she growled. Well, she was stuck here so she might as well get a good night's rest.

She supposed there was a bright side to this. She hadn't had to eat her own cooking in almost twenty-four hours. Yanking the blankets over her head, she let herself fall asleep.

X

Kaoru woke to a weight pressing down on her chest. Rolling onto her stomach, she shuddered several times. There wasn't a lamp next to the bed to save her from her nightmare this time. Breathing heavily into her soft sheets, she finally uncurled herself and searched for some form of calm. It was a dream. _Just a dream_.

Sitting up, she rubbed her face briskly, trying to pull herself awake enough so that if she fell back asleep she wouldn't dream the same nightmare. Sitting on the bed, elbows propped on her thighs, head pressed into her palms she suddenly became aware of a low level growl that vibrated through the bed and straight to her bones. There was a sudden heaviness to the air, thick with something that almost felt like humidity. For a moment, she thought she hadn't managed to wake herself up at all.

She bit her lip hard enough to hurt and swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat.

Lifting her head away from her hands, she blinked hard and tried to find the source of the sound. Her heart started to hammer in her hears as she realized that the big windows weren't letting in light in and she suddenly realized what that thickness in the air was. Magic. She wasn't equipped to deal with magic.

Slowly, eyes still uselessly scanning the room, she reached down to tug the covers away from her legs to give her better movement. The growl went from bone vibrating to fairly snarling and she froze. It was far closer than it had been. Any frantic moving she made might agitate whatever it was in her room.

Gold flashed at her in the darkness and her breath caught in her lungs. There wasn't any light in the room so how did she see…

Swallowing hard, she licked her lips. "Hello?"

She shrieked when the bed dipped suddenly and jerked her legs on instinct when something brushed her leg. Before she could make a scramble – the edge of the bed, a pillow, _anything_ – the thing snarled and it was so close she felt its breath against the bare skin of her arm. It was finally close enough that she could make out its shape and her gut went cold when she realized it was _human_.

Before she could react the shape moved and she found herself pressed flat into her pillows, a heavy body pressing her down. The thick, heaviness in the air made it hard to breathe and she gasped for air. The creature on top of her stopped growling and through the panic racing in her system she picked out that it had stopped growling and almost seemed to… _purr_.

Hot breath warmed her neck and she curled her fingers into fists, and she strained to find some sort of leverage or wiggle room. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to budge the man pinning her and she tilted her head back to scream when her eyes crashed into unearthly yellow. Her scream died in her throat and she swallowed, hard.

Those were the same yellow eyes from her nightmares.

Slowly, her breathing and heart rate slowed to something almost normal and the weight of the air seemed to ease and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't seem to work up any panic. She realized suddenly that he had to be using magic to calm her down and… what was he going to do. Without the terror to sharpen her senses, all she could feel was a sort of morbid curiosity. Taking a risk – because with or without this unnatural calm she wasn't getting raped – she slowly moved her hands until they rested lightly against the man's back. To her surprise, her fingers brushed up against hair and she kept her fingers from curling into it. If he tried anything, that would be her first weapon…

Kaoru squeaked when the gold eyes suddenly disappeared and a warm mouth pressed against her neck in a soft caress before he started to nuzzle her neck. She froze, hands digging into his back and still nothing – no panic, no terror, just a warm fuzziness that was starting somewhere in her abdomen and bubbling up.

'_Okay I can deal with this…_' Kaoru thought a little erratically when those lips pressed against the sensitive juncture of her neck and shoulder. '_All I have to do is reach up and yank if I even get a hint of tongue or teeth…_' But he made no move to do more than settle against her, arm snaking around her waist while his other hand buried itself in her hair.

It was almost as if he was cuddling…

The low level purr increased in intensity and whatever tension his unnatural calmness had left disappeared as her muscles all but melted. Unease tried to find its footing but was unable to do so and she tried to work through what was happening. The sudden grazing of teeth against her skin jerked her enough that she managed to cut through some of the relaxation and jerked on his hair.

"No!" She said firmly, pushing against that edge that and trying to wiggle out again. "No and get…"

He snarled against her skin and then his teeth were moving against her neck in a way that whitened the world at its edges. Her breath hissed around from between her teeth and without her permission, her lolled to the side when his tongue brushed against her skin and warmth spread like honey through her veins.

His nose nuzzled under her ear and he fairly vibrated with whatever noise his chest was making. Warmth hummed through her blood and she found her eyelashes suddenly weighted down. She tried one last time to find a way to push him off but her entire body felt heavy. Her eyes drifted shut without her permission; his warmth and the even rhythm of his breathing lulled her back to sleep.

* * *

**_Please Comment_**!!


	2. Chapter 2

Okay. Here is chapter two! And it manages to be as long as chapter one, which is a little amazing because they both tip the scales close to thirty pages. And the story isn't even halfway finished yet…

If I am lucky I'll wrap it up in under five chapters. The story has been fun and I think I've gotten into the meat of the plot instead of just introducing the characters. We'll see what everyone says.

Unlike when I posted the first chapter, I only have roughly five pages of the next chapter written. I had a great huge chunk of chapter two written and it still took me this long to get the second part out. I'm working on it, but it is going to take some time. So be warned. =)

I hope everyone enjoys this. As you can see, it does indeed follow loosely the concepts of Beauty and the Beast. Very loosely.

Enjoy!

Ravyn

Also, a big thanks to Vashka_Kat for all her helpfullness in making sure everything fits. She's a big reason why this story is getting done!

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Rurouni Kenshin nor do I own the concept of Beauty and the Beast.

Warnings: I have no idea. =)

* * *

Kenshin woke slowly, cushioned in warmth and the boneless sort of relaxation he never managed on his own. Contentment made his wary of fully waking to deal with the half-madness he couldn't quite escape from. Even now, half-snatches of thought and instinct were floating through the back of his mind; whatever he was becoming, it was all sharp angles and molten heat. But for once it was responsible for the liquid contentment in his muscles instead of exhaustion and pain.

Mornings were never this peaceful and without the sharp edge of his temper to clear his mind immediately upon returning to wariness, he was unwilling to move. Soaking up the warmth of his bed, he admitted to himself how very trying the past few weeks had been. The sudden pause in aggression was heaven-sent. His frustration was knife sharp and centered on his blue-eyed gardener.

Kaoru.

He was surprised that he had managed to wake up comfortable and in bed. It was the first since she had started working for him. The creature that crouched in his soul was only content near her and he found himself coming into a vague awareness in the window seal of his bedroom more mornings than not.

Usually, he was content to sit and listen to the roses whisper to him about her. Her location, what she was doing… it was both soothing and arousing to feel her through the flowers as she worked in the most precious part of his home. He could almost hear the tone in her voice as she spoke nonsense, scolding and laughing in turn. Even the never ending burn on her nose made him want her. He wanted to feel that body as it laughed against him, wanted to press his tongue against the smooth skin of her throat.

Taste the residue of his magic against her skin.

He was inviting trouble by even considering such actions. She did not know, could not know what she was getting into. Gritting his teeth, he took a deep, calming breath and paused.

Two scents mingled strongly in the back of his throat. Jasmine. Rose. Jasmine was the scent of a freshly washed Kaoru who had not yet started her day. While he had instructed Tae to replace the soap in her bedroom with her preferred scent… there was no reason for it linger on his own bed linen. Heart hammering in his chest, he opened his eyes and pushed himself onto one elbow.

Kaoru was sleeping soundly, head tilted towards him, lips parted for air. From the looks of it, he had slept with his nose pressed against the hollow of her shoulder and neck.  
How had he slept at all, pressed into every curve of her body? Taking yet another calming breath, he ignored the sudden demands of his body. He would not stay; she did not know… _she was not ready._

But he couldn't seem to stop the way his hand moved without permission to stroke the hair away from her smooth cheek. The skin was lightly tanned and warm under his fingers. Attracted by the warmth of his palm, she turned her face into his touch. Heat and longing burst through his blood and with it came the memories of the night before. Of the taste of her skin under his tongue; the world sharpened and deepened until he pushed the unrelenting wildness back, breathing raggedly.

Not now. No. Kaoru. He could not afford to wake her. Carefully, he disentangled himself from where he had wrapped himself around her, one warm inch at a time. He tucked her back into the blankets with shaking hands before stepping away, air constricting in his lungs.

He couldn't take his eyes away from her – wrapped in blankets, hair mussed, body warm and lonely – until he bumped into the door.

He struggled not to run. To pace deliberately down the hall, forcing his muscles to work naturally, humanly, as he could; his jerky movements cost him at least one bruise as he misjudged at least one door frame. It wasn't until he reached the back staircase, until he was outside in the damp humid air that he lost what control he still had.

He strained his awareness to the roses, to the smooth stone under his feet as he moved silently through his home. When it ended, he found himself sweat soaked and crouched near a single rose bush, hidden carefully in a disguised alcove. Magic pulsed here and it tugged at him.

Some of the hunger eased and he could breathe again.

How soon would it be before he could no longer resist his basic instincts? When his control snapped, he would take everything. He clung to the hope that when it snapped, when the lines of protective magic he could still taste faintly at the back of his throat ended that his people could get her out.

It was a small, useless hope, because when that day came he would remove any obstacle in his path and he would have one drive.

_Kaoru_.

X

Kaoru woke up to an unexpected draft. Shivering, she pressed herself as far under the covers as she could, wiggling around in an attempt to find that lovely pocket of warmth that had kept her warm all night. Groaning in protest when all she found were her ginger scented sheets, she curled into a ball and stared blankly in the darkness.

She wasn't sure what reminded her. A noise, a scent, the invading cool air. But in one sharp breath she was sitting up, starring around the pale light of the room, and having a hard time filling her lungs with air. She reached for her neck with one hand and fisted the other in the large shirt she was wearing. Her eyes scanned the sheets and a single strand of long, red hair was caught on her pillow.

She stared at it for several seconds, not comprehending and then she _moved_.

It took precious seconds to unravel herself from the blankets and another few to locate her shoes. She had no idea what time it was – there was just enough light to see by through the windows. Opening her door, she looked around the dark hall nervously.

If he wasn't in her room he was somewhere else and she did not want to see him. For her a moment she told herself that she had to be wrong, that red hair could have come from anywhere… but her gut told her differently. Firmly pushing the feeling of unease that was forming a knot in her stomach away, she set her jaw and moved forward. The front door was unlocked, but that wasn't surprising since the front pathway was gated. For a moment, Kaoru had no idea how she was going to get through the gate and then squashed the fear. First problem was getting to her bike, and then she would worry about the gate. Then she'd damn well climb it and sprint home if she had to.

She found her bike where she always parked it. Someone had even been nice enough to wash it for her. The borrowed clothing was a little baggy, but easy enough to peddle in and good insulation against the early morning damp. She hasn't dared try to track down her work clothes. Not with that itch forming behind her shoulder blades and that unfamiliar buzz against the back of her skull.

She was shivering almost violently by the time she skidded to a stop in front of the gate. She desperately wished she knew what she was doing and bit down on her bottom lip to keep from exploding with tension as she tried to find a way to get it to open. 'Please, please, please open.'

The small hairs on her arms lifted as something seemed to move in the air and then the gate was creaking open. Her knuckles were white along the handlebars but she hardly waited for the gate to open wide enough before she was moving down the path as fast as she could force her legs to take her.

The gates opened by themselves just as her work shed cleaned itself and tools put themselves back where they belonged. There was something wrong with this mansion. Misao would have called it magic.

If it had been Himura who had invaded her bed… _she didn't want to think about it_. Forcing her mind to match the rhythm of her bike, she concentrated on getting home.

By the time she made it home, she was shaking. She made it as far as her living room before her knees buckled and she pressed her face to the carpet, breathing in deeply as she struggled with her shock. He hadn't hurt her, but he could have. She wouldn't have been able to stop him. Even with her training… He had… he hadn't … but he had… and the mansion…

She lay there, curled around herself until her muscles cramped with the strain. She finally forced herself to move and forced herself to walk and not crawl into the kitchen. Bracing herself on the counter, she wished for something warm to drink and settled for milk. Standing there, in the safety of her kitchen, she finally felt centered enough to _think_.

What exactly had happened? Men – normal, _sane_ men – didn't growl or purr or… or…. act more animal than human. She ruthlessly stomped on her way her insides rolled. Instead, she slide down her counter, ignoring the way handles bit in her spine. The only obvious reason why she was so frightened now and not last night was magic. The fact that he had used magic against her left her feeling sick. She hadn't been prepared for that.

She should have. She should have asked Misao to find her some sort of protection spell after the first time the shed cleaned itself. The first time she had sensed something was off. She should have followed her gut and bolted after she had woken up in the mansion with nothing more than a fuzzy memory the night before. Misao would have come for her if she had just called…

She couldn't blame magic for everything but she was starting to wonder if the homey, welcoming feeling was also a part of it. Maybe Misao was right. Maybe they were vampires or organ harvesters… what ever they were, something was wrong with Himura.

She didn't know how long she sat on the floor, watching sunlight move across the wood floors. There was a vague unease that he would try to find her, but she shook it off. He would already be here if he intended on coming, to hunt her. So what did that mean? Did he expect her to go back? Tension coiled in her muscles at the thought.

What was she going to do about her job?

'_Think, Kamiya.' _

Her first gut reaction was to call and say she quit. Did she dare return to the mansion? Tae and Yahiko and Sano… probably knew. Whatever Himura was… they had to know. Relief and betrayal fought for control and she sighed, rubbing her face. She wasn't sure she wanted these answers.

The sound of someone knocking on her door caught her attention. Frowning, she levered herself to her feet, wincing as her knees cracked. She was half tempted to grab her bokken and take it with her but finally made her way across the living area to the front door.

'_For once, let it be Misao._'

Peering through the keyhole, she blinked at the sight of a tall woman she hadn't seen before. There was something about the stress lines around her mouth and eyes that put Kaoru strangely at ease. Opening the door, she met the brown eyes that narrowed with something Kaoru couldn't name.

"Yes?"

She finally sighed, her eyes shutting for a moment before they opened again.

"My name is Megumi. I think we need to talk."

Kaoru frowned at her. "Talk?"

A faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, but it seemed to be self depreciating. "I'm the reason Himura is the way he is… and I think you need to know why."

Her first thought was _she had been right_. Her gut twisted and knotting at the confirmation of her fears that Himura was the one who… and she almost slammed the door shut on the woman and her answers. But the exhaustion and strain on the Megumi's face made her hesitate. Finally, she swallowed down her instinctive panic and opened the door.

"Come in."

The next ten minutes were very strange. Megumi took over her kitchen and Kaoru found herself slowly eating a tuna sandwich while they waited for the tea to finish heating. Even with her very obvious movements, Megumi's eyes never stopped moving around the room, lingering on the occasional knick knack.

Finally, Kaoru felt she had spent enough time being looked over.

"Who are you?"

Megumi sat down; fingers curled around a mug of hot tea and considered that.

"Currently? I'm a doctor. I find that it suits me well enough."

Kaoru frowned at her. "Isn't that what you do?"

Those dark eyes looked amused. "Do you just teach kendo, Kaoru?"

Point.

Megumi sighed. "Getting into a debate of what we do in comparison to what we are isn't going to answer your questions. So we'll save this discussion for some other time."

Kaoru tensed.

Her eyes roamed her features. "He didn't hurt you."

She licked her dry lips. "No, he didn't hurt me."

"I'm glad. It would have hurt him if he had."

"I don't understand."

"No… and even after all this time I find I am still limited in what I may tell you." Megumi sighed heavily. "I am sorry that he frightened you but you must understand… he… your fear will hurt him worse than your anger."

"I… what do you mean?"

Megumi took a deep breath. "What has been done to him is my fault."

"Done to him?"

She continued on as if she had not heard her question and her smile was bitter. "I did what I could to limit the damage, but I can feel my spells unraveling. Her magic was always stronger than she liked us to believe and I am wearing thin. Perhaps if we had managed… but that is a different story all together."

Kaoru gave her a frustrated look. "You're speaking in riddles."

"I walk a dangerous line even giving you this much information." Now she looked frustrated and her mouth thinned. "You must understand he… we have such little hope left. The price I paid for what time we have is high… but his, _theirs_ is higher. … I am not sure any of us could survive if we lost all hope. That is what you are, Kaoru Kamiya. Hope."

"Why are you telling me this? Who are 'they'? What price?"

Megumi lifted her chin and took a deep breath. "I don't believe he will hurt you, but what I think is unimportant. It is what you believe. So I will tell you this: Ke – Himura will never intentionally harm you. It may be that he has no choice someday, but it will destroy him when it comes to that."

"Kenshin," Kaoru challenged. "His name is Kenshin."

The self-proclaimed doctor flinched. "Do not use his name! Already too much attention has been drawn to us and she will be watching you closely from now on!"

Kaoru fisted her hands. "You're acting as if I am going back."

"I wish I could tell you that you won't, that here in this home that feels of honor and blood that you will be safe… but that would be a disservice to us both. Those grounds do not give up what is theirs lightly and magic clings to you like a second skin."

Kaoru frowned. "I teach kendo and occasional take care of roses. Magic has no room in my life."

The doctor's expression was scornful. "Do you think that magic cares? The mansion and its occupants influence everything that goes on in this town. _Everything_. You have just been closer than most."

"I don't…"

Megumi pinned her with her eyes. "I bet you've even seen it. Little things… colors out of the corner of your eye, things being moved or cleaned without the signs of human hands… the roses are very responsive to you, aren't they?"

Kaoru stared at her.

"Do you know why there is so little magic that reacts outside of the mansion? In any other city like this it would be wild and untamed and destroy everything in its path. This town sits on a nexus, Kaoru. A node, if you must. And that node is bound closely to the Himura blood line and they guard its power jealously. That is why everyone here is safe to live their lives."

"But what… "

"Magic doesn't let you go. I failed in my duty to the Himura family and I am responsible for this but it won't let me go and it won't let _you_ go. And that… that was more than I should have said."

Kaoru bit back her questions.

"You _need_ to understand, but you can't and I have stayed to long. You can't afford to have me drawing any more attention to you, yet."

"Yet?"

But Megumi stood and set down her tea.

"Thank you for your time, Kaoru."

She strode to the door but she paused before she walked through.

"Kenshin Himura is the most honorable man I have ever met. He will try to let you go and he will fail. You must forgive him for that because there are parts of him that no longer know honor or even care for it. Those wild parts of his soul have buried themselves deep into the grounds of that mansion and _that_ is part of him that will not let you go. Running will not change that."

Kaoru watched the door shut, shivering at the weight in the woman's words.

X

Tae slid the door open carefully, wary of what she would find on the other side.

The screams last night had been terrible. She trembled a little at the memory and pressed a hand to her chest. He was in so much pain and all she could, all any of them could do, was huddle somewhere safe so that he was free to express his rage with no fear of harming them. Shinomori's careful protections provided them a barrier from his rage but it had been a living creature last night.

The beast was unhappy without her.

Yahiko had reported, pale face and grim lipped, that he was asleep in the garden around dawn. She hadn't dared venture down yet to see. Instead, she had made her way up the stairs and into his personal sanctuary. The man would be remorseful and it was best to remove what signs she could from the night before.

Glass glittering across the floor in sunbursts in the morning light; claw marks dragged along the cream of the walls and he completely destroyed the paintings that had been on his walls. Even the furniture had been damaged. The couch had bit deeply into one wall where he had thrown it. The gouges to her right matched the depth of picture frames that were now shattered.

He was so very angry that he had frightened her. Tae wasn't sure how he knew, the voice message that had been left had been quick but the tones had been even. Her request for some time off had been granted… what else could they do? She knew that Kaoru would return whether she wished it or not… even now the garden bent its magic towards her. Perhaps that was how he knew her reaction. The garden had wrapped her tightly in its protective magic… and if her emotional reaction had been strong enough the flowers would know.

Swallowing heavily to push back the tears, she adjusted her skirts so not to pick up the fine slivers of glass and slowly began putting the room back to rights. Mending magic wasn't difficult, but it required precision. With her fluctuating emotions – there was blood on the walls on several of the heavy shards of glass – it took more stops and starts than she was used to and she felt a headache building behind her eyes before she had completed half the room. The glass was the most important problem and she worked to fit the pieces back together perfectly. When he was taken by such a violent mood, he was known to strip himself bare and to fling himself into the garden. There was never a scratch from the roses, but glass could cut deep.

A soft gasp turned her attention to the doorway. A pale, trembling Tsubame stood in the doorway, her eyes very dark.

"Come, Tsubame. There is nothing we can do. Help me finish before his return." She sighed heavily. "I am not as young as I look anymore and this is more difficult than I originally thought."

Swallowing the girl did as she asked, taking over the glass work, letting Tae begin smoothing the walls. She allowed her brain to blur and thoughts of Kaoru and how frightened she must be disappeared under the strain of precision.

X

Kaoru stared at the floorboards of her dojo. Not matter how hard she had tried, she hadn't been able to shake Megumi's words. She had ignored her phone and only checked her phone message the one time.

The message from Tae –filled with soft understanding – had almost undone her carefully maintained control. She was operating on some sort of strange, paid vacation but there had been no suggestion that had been fired or was expected to quit.

She had unplugged the machine after that.

It certainly didn't help that she hadn't been sleeping. Reaching up, she kneaded her forehead. When she didn't nod off from exhaustion, she dreamed in golds and yellows in a dark room. She woke up cold and never managed to return to sleep, regardless of the time. Her lips twisted bitterly. Whether or not it was her imagination brought on by Megumi's words… but it felt as if the mansion was trying to draw her back to its Master.

She was running out of the strength to stay away. It wasn't just the dreams. Sometimes, when she was tending the flowers in her mother's garden, she caught that strange, peculiar buzzing that seemed to crawl under her skin. Except… she could almost make out what patterns the sounds were making now; for a moment she could almost 'hear' something.

What she needed was answers. Just thinking about stepping onto the mansions grounds made her palms sweat. No… it was time to talk to Misao.

....

"So she was right about Himura guarding a nexus?" Kaoru questioned, picking at the toppings on a slice of pizza. She never understood Misao's cravings when it came to toppings, but had learned over the years it was just better to take off what she didn't want than to deal with a pouting Misao.

"Hmm, it appears so. Although it took me _forever_ to dig out that information; you would not believe the paper trail they have created to protect themselves! However, they clearly did not expect someone of my ninja-like skills to manage to crack their diabolical code. Silly mage professors… although we are both extremely lucky that the nearest Sorcery Campus is only a few hours away and my acting skills are superior!"

"You forged your aunt's signature again didn't you?"

"What's the point of having an aunt who is a Dean of Witchery if you cannot use her signature to gain access to books?"

"Did you find anything useful?"

"Information on a node/nexus thingamabob was easy enough to come by, if you were happy with the basic run of the mill information."

"Which you are not."

"Which I am totally so not; while those articles were clearly written by brilliant men with too many thesaurus on hand and some weird appreciation of mazes; I am so awesome, I managed." She rolled a can of root beer between her fingers, a half-eaten piece of pizza next to her.

"So?"

"Basically? The short and easy version is that a node or nexus is a sinkhole for excesses energy. There are these lines that are drawn to it and provide energy and what not. There were some complicated mathematical diagrams to show how the size correlates to the territory it drains, but I'm totally not taking that class as part of any major study. Anyway, human, plant, animal… anything that creates energy really, is sucked into this giant vacuum and when it comes back out through those lines, it's magic. Sex seems to be a popular form of magic making, actually… anyway, I asked an aunt about it and she gave me a look that I translated as 'you're not a mage, don't ask those questions.' I'll raid her bookshelf this weekend."

Kaoru licked suddenly dry lips. "Did you find anything about Himura being a mage?"

"That's tricky."

"Why?"

"Besides that there is no pure definition of mage beyond "magic user" and then category? From what I can understand, the guardians of sinkhole-things aren't exactly 'mages' by the true sense of the word. They have partners who _are_ true mages, but _they_ aren't. I haven't been able to find the importance of that connection yet… Anyway, apparently, someone who guards a nexus would control what is basically translated as 'raw' magic that sort of collects around the nexus, but is too thick to actually be processed… or at least, that's how I read it. So the guardian of the node has to do something else with the magic or it just keeps building up. My gut says that would be bad, but by that time my eyes were starting to cross so…" she shrugged and picked up her pizza, taking another large bite.

Kaoru frowned. "What categories?"

"Kaoru!" Misao looked hurt. "You should know some of them by now."

Kaoru gave her a tight lipped look and Misao sighed.

"Your mother's clear lack of… it depends on one's affinity for magic. THAT you should know. People who lean towards chaos, who lean towards divinity, who lean towards a really fan-tab-u-lous green thumb…. Mages." Misao shrugged. "Heck, you've been tested, you know the drill."

"Why tricky?"

"Eh?"

"Why is Himura tricky?"

"'cause there was no proof that he _is_ the 'guardian'; while I didn't expect that information to be lying around, there was nothing. Not even a hint. I did manage to learn that the guardianship isn't necessarily something that you are born with, but it has to be freely given over to another. But that's it… one sentence in a million pages."

Kaoru shoved the rest of the pizza away. "What does it mean, then, if something were to happen to Himura? Assuming that he is a guardian."

Misao swallowed. "You mean like this curse people keep dancing around?"

Kaoru nodded.

"I don't know. There are hints that the transferring of power from one family to another can be… nasty. It's been _done_, but not so well…"

"We're assuming that's what whoever did this wants control of the nexus," Kaoru pointed out, her teeth biting down nervously on her lip. "What do you think?"

Misao shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, Kaoru. The only place to know for sure…"

"Is at the mansion," she set her jaw. "What if they didn't want the nexus for themselves? What if they just wanted… Himura to go nuts?"

"That sounds like a bad idea. Really bad. Just on principle… yeah, that's like… _bad_. I don't think you should go back to the mansion until we know one way or another." Misao tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling. "At least not without some sort of protection… something that Megumi said worries me."

"What?"

"She said that the mansion doesn't let go." Misao sighed. "That _worries me_. That sounds like old magic, sentient type magic… the kind that people aren't suppose to be able to do anymore. I casually mentioned it to a different aunt and was given an entirely different look. I think I'll avoid her for a few days. But my point is, how do we know that what Megumi said is right?"

Kaoru picked at her remaining slice of pizza.

Misao took a deep breath. "You said you thought the garden was way to away, almost… sentient?"

"Yes." She sighed and lifted her eyes. "It… it absorbs things. Voices, echos… it seems to always be paying attention although I can't explain how and there are these… half-noises."

"Half-noises?"

"It's a constant buzzing in the back of my mind. I can't explain it."

"That's… interesting."

"Why?"

"Don't have a clue, honestly. I gotta find me a mage boy toy and get some answers."

"That's not very comforting."

Misao flopped onto her back. "Of course, if something does happen, I'm going to have to risk myself to seduce said boy toy to get you out, because I am amazing like that. Putting my body on the line for you, my friend; you just don't know how lucky you are."

Kaoru threw a pillow at her, still laughing.

X

"They're dying again. There always fucking dying."

Sano lifted his head and studied the angry teenager. Yahiko was covered in dirt and sweat but he didn't seem to notice as he stared at the flower beds, hands fisted at his sides.

"Yup."

Yahiko rounded on him. "That's all you have to say?"

Sano shrugged. "It ain't gonna change just 'cause I said it."

"She's gone!"

Sano sighed. He knew this had to do more than the flowers. "Yes. And she's not going to come back until she's ready. Can you blame her?"

Yahiko's knuckles turned white. "He scared her."

"Yup. Can't say I blame _him_ either. Having her that close has to be torture."

He turned away, shoulders slumping. "What if…"

"Isn't going to change a thing… either she figures it out and saves our hides or she doesn't. We all made our choices, are you regretting that now?"

"No… I just… dammit, I don't want to be stuck like this forever."

"Your not, kid. Although I do sympathize with your problems with Tsubame; being stuck as a teenager is its own sort of hell. Well, like I said either jou-chan figures it out or… well, she doesn't. But she'll be back."

"Both of them will."

"Yeah… that's going to be a problem. 'Course, that's not _our_ problem. Jou-chan is. So keep that in mind next time you wake me up from my well earned nap."

X

"You're still not sleeping."

Kaoru cracked one eye open and stared at Misao. She was wearing a brightly colored shirt and her feet were bare. Blinking against the afternoon light, she tried to clear away the light doze she had fallen into on her front porch.

"Did you forget your shoes?"

"No. Not really."

Right… next question, "I didn't expect to see you here today."

Misao sighed heavily. "I'm not having any luck seducing me that boy toy with mage-like abilities. So I came to a decision… and seeing those raccoon like circles under your eyes is just verifying what I think we need to do."

"We?"

"Most certainly. I made you a ward."

Kaoru shot up, starring at her. "You can't do magic."

"_Well _Kaoru, can't do magic _well_. There is a complete difference."

"You're going to turn me into a toad or something…"

"Kaoru! I cannot believe you said that! I would never turn you into a toad! _On purpose_!"

"You're aunts rather forcible told you to never touch magic again after second grade when you exploded the bathroom."

Misao waved a hand. "I haven't. Mostly. And that was completely not my fault. If I remember correctly – which I most assuredly do – you failed to warn me about the spider."

"What do you mean 'mostly'?"

"Well, while I was doing all this research for you I thought I would do some research for me."

The pit of Karou's stomach dropped. "Misao…"

"Anyway, my magic has settled a little and I thought I would give it a shot. And it worked."

"What worked?"

Misao settled herself onto the porch and grinned. "My ward. I made you one. And it works."

Kaoru stared suspiciously at her. "You've never been able to make a ward before."

"Yes, but I did this time." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. Her smile was bright. "The aunt who caught me about had an aneurism, but it works and that's the important part because you need to sleep. Not that this will help you sleep, in fact it's meant to do the exact opposite so…"

"Wait. _What_?"

Misao waved the piece of paper. "You didn't want to go back because Himura used his funky date-rape magic on you and you didn't freak out when he decided to snuggle. This should prevent him from being able to do that again, although I can't promise that it will completely save you from his magical advances, but it will make it more difficult on him."

"How long will it work?"

"I have… no idea. But it will work for now, which is the important part and I can make you another one later if I have to. Although that one gave me quite a headache."

Kaoru stared at it. "Will it work on just the… what he did?"

"About that… I have no idea. Should work for most minor spells in theory… well, again, let's just call this an experiment and go from there." Misao smiled brightly. "But the good news is now you can go back and get some sleep."

Kaoru stared at her blankly.

"You. Work flowers. Flowers let you sleep?"

"So you think it's the _flowers_?"

"How should I know? I was just making an analogy or whatever. The point is, we can at least send you back knowing your protected and you can figure out what's going on, end it and make Himura so happy he gives a sizeable donation to the dojo so you can quite working there and live happily ever after beating the hell out of teenage boys."

"You're insane. How much caffeine have you had today?"

"It makes me happy!"

"Did you forget about the snuggling?" Kaoru groused.

"Let's just wave that one off on whatever funky is going on and call it even." Misao suggested. "He hasn't grabbed you, pinned you against a wall and molested you in a dark corner, which according to all my research is the only sure sign that he wants you for your body."

Kaoru dropped her head into her hands. "You're wagering my life on romance novels. My life is doomed."

"The ward works at least!"

X

Kaoru looked around the garden, trying to place her finger on what about it was so different. The flowers were the same – she could almost hear that buzzing and feel the sparks of it against her skin. Frowning, she rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms. She had never felt the garden before… not in those little half-sparks that felt like static electricity.

Her fingers slid into her right pocket and they clenched around material. She paused in mid-step, her body tensing. Why had she left without Misao's ward? She distinctly remember putting it in the pocket of her work clothes before she had gone to bed, unwilling to risk leaving it behind. Sweat started to build on the back of her neck and she swallowed around a suddenly dry tongue.

Something flickered out of the corner of her eye and she spun around, stance defensive. When she saw nothing except the familiar sway of pale blossoms she went shifted to start walking again when she noticed something dark dripping down the pale petals. Frowning, she moved closer. Whatever it was thick and seemed to be oozing… and it seemed to be coming from the flower itself. Reaching out, she hesitantly touched it with the tip of her forefinger and hissed when it was warm.

It took her a moment to place the scent and she jerked her hand back.

Her eyes scanned the rest of the immediately noticeable flowers and she took several hasty steps back when she realized that all the flowers looked the same.

The garden was bleeding.

Kaoru wasn't sure what happened next but she suddenly found herself rushing through the hidden mazes, mulch crunching wetly under her feet. Thick, red liquid covered her arms and chest and ran down her legs but she kept pushing through, unable to stop.

She didn't know how she had gotten there but her heart was pounding in her throat and her side had a stitch from too much running. Gasping for air, she tried to get her legs to stop moving. Laughter – feminine and filled with such triumph – chased her.

But they wouldn't.

'This is a dream, this is a dream. Wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP.'

She skidded across the floor and found herself facing a shadowed area of the garden she had never seen before. In front of her was a crushed rose plant and bending over it was a man. He was completely naked except for his long, bright hair and when his eyes met hers she screamed.

Kaoru crashed into the floor hard of her bedroom, having rolled herself off the bed. She stayed there until she caught her breath, shivering on the hard floor. Damn. Slowly she sat up and reached for the light, feeling a little better once she could see.

That… had been different. None of the dreams before this had been in the garden. The rest had been in the mansion, in that stupid chair in front of the fire. This…

Her eyes lowered to the hand that had touched the rose bloom. Her skin was very white in the moonlight except for one, long smear against her forefinger. Staggering to her feet, she rubbed her hand against her shorts and lurched to where she had left the ward. Fishing through pockets, she pulled it out, clenching it tightly between her fingers.

It was warm to the touch.

It was a long time before she convinced herself to head back to bed and she was still staring at her hand when the light slowly started to filter through the windows.

X

Kaoru was uncertain if she was hiding in her car or just collecting her nerves. It had been near ten minutes since she had parked and she hadn't moved beyond turning the engine off. The heat of the ward in her pocket left her feeling a little more comfortable, but not much. Knowing her current luck, it was going to catch her pants on fire or explode. That mixed with the heat inside the car would have cooked her if the day had been any hotter. Sighing and armed with the knowledge that Misao knew where she was, that the ward just might work and if all else failed her friend would rally her ridiculous number of mage aunts to come to the rescue, she slid out into the blessedly cooler air.

She had arrived early enough to avoid almost everyone even with her ten minute pep talk. There was no sign of Sano or Yahiko. The weight of her packed lunch bumbled against her hip as she headed to the shed nearest the roses she wanted to explore. She didn't want to face Tae or anyone over lunch.

And she wanted to stay as far away from the office windows of one Himura; at least until she was certain the ward would work… and even then she was most certainly not prepared to deal with him. Well, she was… but she wasn't sure a man who growled like a wolf was going to take being beaten to death by a bokken well. The thought cheered her up though. And if he did try anything, she would try her hand at quitting.

So that really solved all her problems as long as Himura kept himself as far away from her as possible. Because even with the ward and Misao's energetic assurances, something was lurking in the back of her mind that said this was not a good idea. Except she had realized just how much she still needed the money after paying this months bills. She could have easily picked up a job somewhere else, but if Megumi had been telling her the truth…

'Not that you can necessarily believe what strange women proclaiming themselves to be mages when they aren't doctors tell you.'

Except for the dreams.

She was trying very hard not to think of the bleeding garden or what that had meant. Or those eyes… She was tired enough to know that she was going to go crazy if she didn't get a full eight hours of sleep soon. So she was back at the mansion and trying to figure out exactly where to start after being gone a week. Running her fingers through her bangs, she finally shrugged and trudged into the garden. Before the… incident, she had managed to find time to take a small cutting from the plant on the alcove. After being by itself for a week, it was doubtful that it had survived but she wanted to check before forgetting about it. Filling a pale with some mulch, a small bag of fertilizer and a water bottle she headed into the edges of the garden.

It had taken her some debating to decide where she should plant the little cutting. Finally she had decided on a cluster of white and pale peach roses that had almost been tossed together as an afterthought. The dark red of the cutting would round the little area out.

After she had taken her cutting from the rose plant, it had taken only a few days for the roots to appear when it should have taken weeks, another sign of magic. The plant had grown so quickly and been so healthy she had gone ahead and planted it early with the intention of keeping a very careful eye on it.

Ducking under a hedge, she slipped through the maze-like paths to the secluded spot. She wanted to see how her little experiment was progressing. Conveniently, it also kept her well out of sight of the mansion.

Still, the odds had been against the little plant but to her surprise, the little cutting was flourishing. Frowning a little at the green steam that had apparently managed to put on growth, she set about gently tending to it. She really didn't want to think of all the ways that it was defying natural law with its apparent growth. Satisfied when she was finished that the small plant would continue to grow, she stretched her back and went to work on the other flowers.

By the time lunch came around she was hip deep in mulch again. Just as she was deciding on hunting down her sandwich, a voice broke into the silence of the garden.

"So you're the new garden-girl."

Kaoru wiped her hands on her shorts as she stood. The feminine voice was a surprise, but not necessarily an unwelcome one. Today was hot and the endless half-noise that had started once she had checked on the cutting that morning was starting to drive her crazy. It wasn't until she was facing the expensively dressed woman that she remembered that it was a Wednesday and there wasn't supposed to be visitors.

This woman in her pale white dress who seemed to be immune to heat and sweat sparked a warning along her nerves. Something about the artificialness of her perfection; her face was smooth and while the shape of her eyes were interesting, the dark red was unnerving. She seemed to know it as well, because the edges of her mouth had pulled slightly upwards, as if she was savoring something no one else knew.

"Yes, I work here." She didn't feel comfortable volunteering even that much information. There was a curious blankness to those stunning eyes.

"How do you like it?" she questioned, reaching out to touch a bloom with a perfectly painted nail, her smile cool. Kaoru internally cringed at the motion and frowned at her gut reaction to ask her to leave.

"Fine… can I help you with something?"

"He will kill you." The woman said suddenly, gently as she leaned closer to the flowers. Those dark red eyes swung in her direction. "That's what he does… what he has become; a monster that feeds on human fear. He'll lull you into a sense of safety and then he kills you. If you're lucky, he might feed your remains to his precious rose beds. Roses have a reputation of being bloodthirsty. I'm sure you knew that."

Kaoru couldn't hide the shiver that ran down her spine and winced at the satisfied expression on the red-eyed woman's face. _How did she know about Himura_? Her stomach tightened painfully. Megumi had referred to a 'she'…

"You should run," the woman said suddenly, turning lightly away from her. "His control is thin now… I can feel it. He will lose…" her words died as she moved further into the garden.

The urge to move forward, to grasp this woman who knew too much by the arm and demand she leave had Kaoru's feet moving before she stopped herself. What exactly could she do? The few times she had run into Saitoh she had not left on great terms with the irritating man. Instead she reached up to the touch the flower the woman had touch and shuddered at the spark that raced across her hand.

Who was that woman?

Biting her bottom lip, she tried to analyze her feelings. Shaking her head, she decided that the best bet was to get over her unease about the mansion and let someone know that the woman was here. There was something… off about her and the half-buzzing noise in her head had risen to painful levels.

Kaoru felt the change before she ever heard it. Then that half-buzz exploding against her brain the same time the very air seemed to scream, to shatter under some pressure that she could just begin to feel. She had just managed to take one step forward when the earth started to shake. Crying out, she stumbled hard to her knees. Wind tore at her hair and weight pressed down on her shoulders and back and the air was suddenly too thick to breathe. She sucked in air through her lips and struggled against the internal wrenching that seemed to be concentrated behind her navel…

And then it was gone. Some how she had fallen and her nose was pressed deeply into a pile of mulch. It took several moments for her to work up the energy to lift herself, her muscles having turned to mush. The unnatural stillness was shattered by the sound of someone screaming. The high, rushing sound changed as she listened, rising in octave until it once again became that endless, bone shilling howl that no human vocal cord could have made.

Then familiar, haunting laughter filled the air. Kaoru froze. It was the laughter from her nightmares. Her mouth ran dry and she was more frightened of that sound than the screaming howl.

A branch snapping had her jerking to her feet and skidding away from a tall man with frozen eyes who she had never seen before except perhaps as a shadow out of the corner of her eye. His bearing somehow managed to convey great fury without moving a single muscle.

"Whatever happens, do not run."

The deep growl that came from her left had every muscle in her body tensing.

The unexplainable terror that she had been struggling against since the night he crawled into her bed welled in her chest and tried to suffocate her. Biting her lip, Kaoru clenched her fists behind her back as she slowly turned to face him. The ward in her pocket felt like a small, burning sun.

"Miss Kamiya, you must not run."

"Let the girl flee, Shinomori, that way her death will take longer." The feminine, triumphant voice cut into the air like glass. "There is nowhere she can hide now. I have _won_. The protective spell is broken and it is as it should be. _You and your pet healer have failed_, _Shinomori!"_

Kaoru made the mistake at looking at the sky. No longer was it blue, but a swirling mass of blacks and reds, with jagged streaks of lightening crashing against it. Her lips parted and the hand wrapped around her lungs tightened. Her eyes lowered against her will to the woman.

"You overstep yourself, Yukishiro."

"Do I?" Her lips curled into a sharp smile. "Look at him and his pathetic attempt to hold himself together. My spells have waited a long time for this. You will die and everything will fade and then the node will belong to me. I have _won_."

Kaoru wanted to look away from the woman, to ask what was happening, why the sky had changed and why the air was so thick she could swallow it. But something inside her had frozen with her words and it wasn't until the low, snarling growl from Himura that she could pull her attention away.

She still couldn't see him.

Shinomori shifted his weight forward just as something brushed against her ear.

'Run away, garden-girl.'

Something crackled along Kaoru's skin and the world blurred a little at the edges. When she finally managed to find herself, her body had already moved and she was racing through the garden. Panic caught her and she struggled to stop but it was as if her legs had a mind of their own.

Frantically, she moved her eyes and she realized with surprise she had somehow made it into the center of the flower garden. She skidded on a slick spot and her teeth sunk into her bottom lip painfully. Mentally cursing, because now she was leaving a blood trail, she tried to turn her body towards the mansion in the hopes of getting some help.

Before she could, whatever had been driving her legs forward suddenly disappeared and she staggered to her knees hard. She noticed the sudden lack of burning heat against her thigh and hoped that it was because the ward had worked and not because it had failed. Relief flooded through her just as a low, angry snarl had her scrambling to her feet again and she twisted around to find Himura crouched on all fours, just watching her.

He was barefoot and missing his shirt. What had once been immaculate dress pants were torn to his knees, giving him a wild look that was only accented by the lack of humanity in his eyes. They glowed the colors of melted bronze and tracked her movements with pin prick pupils.

She took one; careful step backwards and the low vibrating growl increased. Determined, she took another, slowly moving away from him. When his eyes flickered over her shoulder she spun around and bolted, tearing down the path. She ducked through one of the small openings in the roses, hoping it would give her the room she needed to maneuver.

She had just enough time to consider how silent he was being when his body crashed into her own. They went down hard and skidded across the thick mulch. She tried to wiggle, twisting violently in an attempt to get leverage but he used his weight to press her into the ground until she stopped struggling. His hot breath washed over the back of her neck and she coughed and gagged as he rolled her onto her back.

Giving one last attempt to knock him away, she was quickly subdued, his fingers biting into the skin at her wrists as his chest pressed against her own. Looking up into his wild eyes she froze, terrified to look away, her heart hammering in her chest; the ward in her pocket was cold now. Hot yellow dominated his pupils and her world narrowed to her panicked, gasping breaths and his eyes.

X

Aoshi could do nothing when Himura gave chase to the Kamiya-girl. She would live or die by Himura's choice now. However, this witch was someone he _could_ deal with. He could feel the tattered edges of magic that had once been protection spells and the rest of the magical runes were degrading quickly.

He had very little time. Yukishiro's spells were settling into place and once they solidified he would have no control over the magic in the mansion.

"It is too late for you, Shinomori. Any attack you try will fail."

He kept his expression calm. "Is that so?"

She gave a soft laugh. "He will kill her. His control is gone and the animal demands fresh blood. She will not live through the hour." The edge of her mouth curled. "You know it as well as I or you would have already left to aid that pathetic little human girl."

"You underestimate them both."

Tomoe gave an artful shrug. "Even if somehow he managed to retain some of his sanity, do you think I would leave anything to chance? Over the next month everything here will fade as if it never existed."

Aoshi didn't dare reach for his offensive spells. Clenching his fist, he moved forward. Magic wasn't his only strength.

Tomoe lifted her hand. "Good bye."

"I do not believe we are finished."

She just smiled.

…and was gone.

X

Kaoru could only stare up at him as he bent forward. Visions of him lunging for her throat and sinking his teeth into a vein had her squeezing her eyes shut. She couldn't quite stop the way she was trembling and he had her completely pinned.

The warm, careful brush of his tongue against her chin snapped her eyes wide open. She found herself staring at red bangs as he repeated the motion. She swallowed hard when he reached her busted lip and slowly licked the broken skin. Her fingers flexed in his hold but he ignored her movements.

Any thought process she had broke down when he settled his mouth over the cut, sucking with just enough pressure that the world blurred faintly at the edges. Her skin warmed under his mouth and she shifted in faint alarm. His entire body vibrated with his warning and she stilled, heart hammering in her chest. She breathed deeply through her nose and tried not to panic. When he pulled back, his eyes were still sun-yellow, and they studied her lip before he seemed satisfied.

He didn't let go of her hands.

Carefully, she flicked her tongue out against her lip. Her eyes widened when she realized that the cut was gone. The edge of his mouth curled in one corner and there was something satisfied yet _starving_ in his gaze as he continued to watch her.

It was making it difficult to breathe.

"Please let me up."

His expression didn't alter and for the first time she was able to study the sharp line of his cheek bones, the thin press of his lips and she swallowed. He settled his weight a little firmer along her lower body and she glared at him.

"Get off me."

He leaned down and flicked his tongue against her chin and she snarled.

"I don't think so! You chased me you… you…." She struggled to find the words and settled for in articulate snarling. If she was mad she wasn't frightened and if she wasn't frightened then there was still a chance that this was a nightmare.

The familiar male voice of the tall, thin man cut into their starring match.

"Himura."

The man-beast's entire body tensed and he bared his teeth at whoever was standing behind him. There was a long pause as he seemed to realize she was struggling to break his hold.

"She would perhaps be more comfortable in the mansion where we could get a look at her bruises. Yukishiro may have planted more than one spell on her."

Kaoru's entire body vibrated with his growl as he considered his words before he moved off of her. Her relief was short-lived as he reached down and casually tossed her over shoulder before moving towards the mansion. The breath in her lungs exploded out and she gasped for air, curling her fingers into his hair and yanking.

He didn't seem to notice. Looking up, she caught sight of the man who had told her not run, watching her with eyes she couldn't read before he disappeared behind the roses.

X

"You'll have to take care of her cuts, Kenshin."

Kaoru risked raising her eyes to stare in disbelief at Tae. Kenshin had set her down with more care than he had picked her up, but her teeth were still rattling around in her skull. And he was watching her with those unblinking, inhuman eyes. Now that the adrenaline had worn off her skin felt itchy and her knees and palms ached; she wanted to find a dark corner and just breathe.

And Tae wanted the… the… whatever the hell _Himura was_ to tend to her cuts?

Tae averted her eyes so Kaoru lowered hers back down to deal with the… _Himura_ who was crouched down in front of her, sun-yellow eyes watching her every move; like some starving animal… he didn't seem to notice that he was in torn clothing, that his hair was a tangled mess of rose petals and mulch. Or that his current arrangement of limbs should have been impossible for anyone with a spine.

She could handle that. There was clearly – obviously, dangerously – mage work here. It was the way his fingers kept reaching for her ankle that she disapproved of. She had already kicked him once but that had only seemed to amuse him.

"I apologize for him, Kaoru."

"You're encouraging him!" Kaoru hissed, not daring to look away from Himura again. "How apologetic can you be?"

Tae met her eyes firmly. "Call him by his name, it will help."

"Will help what?" Kaoru demanded, pushing herself into more… defensive position. She reached for Tae, ignoring Kenshin's snarl of protest and froze when her hand went through the older woman like it wasn't even there.

Tae wrung her hands together and sighed. "I'm afraid that the magic has moved much quicker than it should have since it was bottled up for so long. Megumi warned us of that… I think. But it's been so long and…"

"My hand… went right though you." Kaoru said from numb lips.

"Yes dear…. Kenshin, you're going to have to help clean her wounds and check her for spells. I can't touch her."

Hot breath ghosted over the bare skin of her knee but she didn't think much of it until something warm and wet rasped over the bruised skin.

Kaoru shot up and backwards until she was standing in the chair, ignoring the disapproving looks Tae was giving her as she glared down at the redhead below.

"He licked me!"

Himura's lips curled a little at the edges and his body shifted, fingers moving along his knees as he watched her. The bottom of her stomach dropped to her toes and she swallowed.

Tae cleared her throat. "It will help."

This time she couldn't help but lift her eyes to the other woman. "Letting him _lick me_ is _suppose to help_?"

She sounded vaguely hysterical to her own ears and took several deep, shuddering breaths.

Tae folded her hands together primly. "Yes."

"_How_?"

Before she could answer, Himura rumbled something from deep in his throat and Tae hesitate before bowing and moving out of the room. Kaoru stared at her in shock. She just _left_?

The sound of claws again wood jerked her eyes back down. Her gaze went straight to his hands, but she couldn't see anything other than his nails – which were surprisingly short. Swallowing, she inched back as far into the chair as she could without compromising its balance.

This didn't seem to bother Himura at all and he moved into a more upright position with a liquid grace that only cats had ever before achieved. Shifting her weight backwards, she wondered if looking away to find a candle stick or something equally long and heavy would be a bad idea.

His eyes lowered to her feet and slowly slid up her body, lingering on her knees, hands and mouth before his eyes returned to hers. The heat there had her shifting her weight and her eyes rounded when she managed to finally overbalance the chair. Squeezing her eyes shut, she gurgled out noise that she hadn't heard from herself before; however, instead of hitting the floor painfully – the chair had most certainly landed – she found herself dangling in Himura's arms.

Cracking one eye open, she swallowed at the way he was starring down at her. This close, she could make out the wheat gold that streaked the dark bronze of his eyes.

And she couldn't look away.

The sounded sound of a door opening had Himura shifting his eyes away from hers and she followed his gaze. The long, thin man from the garden was standing there, trench coat unbutton to show off dark slacks and a shirt.

"I apologize." Cold eyes studied her. "She feels of foreign magic."

Kaoru held herself perfectly still. The grip Himura had on her was firm but the angle of his jaw was making her heart pound painfully in her chest. Those yellow eyes finally moved away from the man in the doorway and lowered to somewhere along her throat.

She squeezed her eyes shut and she tried not to think about why he was starring at her pulse. Swallowing in the hopes of returning the moisture to her mouth, she took suck air in through her nose.

"My ward."

The hands along her back shifted until his arm had slid under her knees and her neck was braced with one long fingered hand. Panic was hammering at her insides until her lungs felt tight.

"You have a ward?"

Himura didn't move once his nose settled by her ear and she concentrated on breathing. He was making this warm, rumbling noise in his chest and she opened her eyes to stare a little desperately at the man in front of her. Cold blue eyes held little emotion and she tensed at the almost threat she could sense from him.

Himura snarled and she shuddered.

"You're frightening her."

Teeth moved against her jaw and she thought for a moment she was going to throw up when the muscles against her spine shifted and she found her feet touching the floor. She hovered there, balanced against his arm, half cradled against his chest – and then he simply shifted away.

Not far enough to make her feel safe but she was breathing evenly again.

"Your ward."

Kaoru shifted her weight, testing her ability to move. Himura didn't move an inch but the air felt heavier and she decided to wait on bolting.

"Yes. I have one." Two could play with this game but she wasn't sure she had the energy to deal with him and figure out why Himura was watching her with those eyes. Or why he hadn't eaten her. She wasn't going to think about licking, no matter how her knees burned.

"Kamiya."

She shifted her eyes over, taking care to keep Himura in her peripheral vision. "You honestly didn't expect me to come back here after… anyway, yes. I have a ward. No, I didn't make it. Why?"

"I would like to see it."

"I would like a name." Kaoru returned. Himura rolled his shoulders, the movement somehow threatening and she shifted her weight off her heels.

"Shinomori Aoshi."

Kaoru wearily eyed him again. The backwards saying of his name meant he wasn't from around here. He was moving closer and she frowned at his sharp, well defined features.

"The ward?"

For a moment, she hesitated. How much could she trust him? Except… he had tried to help, in the garden, even if his instructions sucked. Moving her hand slowly – Himura was a predator no matter what everyone else thought – she reached into her pocket and offered him the still warm ward before she thought. His fingers closed around it before she remembered that he couldn't and she stared down at his hand in surprise.

Shinomori rolled it between his fingers, a line forming between his brows as she studied something she obviously couldn't see.

"This is well made."

"Is it?"

Himura prowled forward on his hands, body close enough to feel when he finally stopped. Every muscle in her body tensed as what felt like claws dragged through her ponytail.

"I'd like to study this…"

Kaoru held out her hand. "I'd like it back."

Shinomori stared at her, but Kaoru was finished being intimidated. Kenshin started to growl and Shinomori handed it back silently.

Curling her fingers around the paper and feeling a little better, she shifted her body away from Himura. Swallowing, she finally worked up enough courage to ask the one question she needed the answer to most.

"What… what is going on?"

Shinomori stared down at her, his face curiously devoid of any expression.

"We are disappearing."

* * *

**_Please comment!_**


	3. Chapter 3

Bottom of Form

This chapter is about one scene short of where I wanted it to be, but I couldn't get it to behave long enough to write it. So I'm going to shift it over to the next chapter. I think things are finally starting to develop a little so I hope everyone enjoys what I've got!

Any mistakes are, as usual, mine. =)

Huge, huge thanks to Vashka for helping me get through this story. She is massively responsible for anything even remotely getting done. Ever. Thanks hun!

Ravyn

Disclaimer: I do not own.

Warnings: … not a whole lot. Violence as usual.

* * *

Kaoru woke up feeling off balance with the lingering memory of a dream she couldn't quite remember except for the pounding of her heart and her throbbing temples. She felt exhausted and tried to grab hold of her nightmare – this one involved long hallways and the scent of blood. Shivering even under the heavy press of the covers, she swore under her breath when she couldn't remember anything else. A lot of good hallways and blood did her. Allowing herself to stay curled up under the covers until her heartbeat slowed; she uncoiled enough to glance at the window.

And found her gaze clashing with sleepy yellow eyes instead.

He was in front of the door; his eyes alert even if the rest of his body broadcasted early morning looseness that only someone who had slept ever really managed. Did he ever blink? Swallowing heavily, she checked the amount of sunlight coming in from the windows with her peripheral vision. _What time was it?_ She bit her lower lip, trying to decide what to do first when Himura rolled forward into a crouch and her stomach tightened painfully. Long red hair fell over his shoulder, the only movement as he watched her, clearly testing her reaction to his being in the room.

If he wasn't acting so damn predatory and hadn't tried to rip her throat out, the… _prettiness_ of him would have been a whole lot more distracting. As it was, the shift of muscles under his taut skin and angle of his sleepy yellow, yellow eyes only reminded her of how much beast had settled under his skin. She had a predator sitting in front of her door and all she really wanted to do was to stand up and hit him over the head with a lamp and run for it.

At least he wasn't actually in bed with her.

Carefully leveraging herself up, she swallowed past the lump in her throat.

"You just… stay over there."

The corner of his mouth curled upwards but to her relief, he settled back down; balancing on his heels as he obviously waited for what she planned to do next. _Now what_… Shinomori hadn't given her much the night before. After his rather dramatic and Misao-like declaration for such an emotionless void, he had turned and left her alone with… _him_. And here she was. Still alone with him, even after managing to wheedle herself back to her room to hide under the covers.

She distinctly remembered locking the door.

Taking a deep breath, she decided she was safe enough (or at least as safe as she was likely to be) and allowed herself to study him; not just the movements he was making. The only real difference in appearance between the man and… whatever he was _now_ was his eyes. The soft violet had disappeared under a mix of molten yellow and wheat gold. He was too far away to see clearly, but her memory of what his eyes had looked like in the garden was vivid. The strange pupils and yellow iris made her uneasy but they seemed to have darkened a little. She wondered if they would act as an indicator for his moods and if she was to be close enough to notice. His face was still lined near the eyes and faintly at the mouth and there seemed to be something about his hair that looked… off; but he almost appeared to be the same.

Until he moved. She wasn't certain how he was managing it, but he rolled, shifted or glided through whatever space was around him. It was if the normal human limitations had been stripped from his joints and muscles and replaced by something else; as if he had extra extensions under his skin that she just couldn't see. And last night she had sworn she heard claws clicking on the wood floors… but his nails were short, human. Licking dry lips, she took another deep breath.

"Can you talk?"

He didn't bat a lash but there was a shift in the air – it was heavier, thicker with the impression of teeth.

She was going to take that for a no.

A really, really big no.

Right.

"Okay."

So now what? Reaching up, she pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. So she was somehow stuck with a man turned (turning?) beast – in some sense she couldn't _see_ but could _feel_ – who couldn't talk and didn't blink. Lowering the blanket, she slowly slid her bare legs out from under the covers.

The deep abrasions on her knees were gone.

She stared blankly at the unmarred skin for long seconds before she turned a narrowed eyed look over at Himura. He stared back, seemingly unconcerned. She was really considering that lamp.

"That had better not have involved _licking_."

His head tilted just a fraction in what could have been a challenge. She considered it – and decided against it. Better to just avoid getting hurt later on. Settling her feet onto the floor, she stood carefully. Himura had rolled onto the balls of his feet, but he wasn't making any other motion. He still felt like a predator but now…

It was almost like he was laughing at her. Taking another deep breath, a little of the tension in her stomach loosened as she careful slid around the bed to where the bathroom was.

"I'm taking a shower. Stay here and _don't even think_ about coming in."

The smile lifted enough to show a hint of teeth – very white teeth that for a moment looked sharper and elongated than any human teeth she had ever seen. Forcing herself to hold his gaze, she curled her hands into fists behind her back. He was not seeing her naked. The air shifted against her skin again and Kaoru decided to take that as a yes. Moving swiftly, she shut the door behind her and closed her eyes.

Having a door between them made it a lot easier to breathe. Several more deep breaths and the sick feeling in her stomach disappeared. Opening her eyes, she quickly set to work turning on the shower and stripping out of the clothing that was still dirt stained from the incident in the garden. Carefully, Kaoru pulled the ward out of her pocket and set it on top of her shorts. She couldn't say why she wanted it close, but Shinomori's reaction the night before had been interesting.

The hot water felt wonderful. She stood under it until her shoulders stung and turned red. The soap smelled the same as the stuff she normally used – even though she didn't recognize the package – and she forced herself not to think too closely about that. Instead, she scrubbed herself as close to raw as she dared. It wasn't until she was reaching for one of the towels that she realized all the clothing she had was what she had been wearing. It was stained with sweat and dirt and desperately needed washing.

Biting her lip to hold in the rather eloquent string of curses, she reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. She would have chopped off her own hand right then for a clean set of underwear and her familiar, comfort clothing. Counting to ten, she pulled her self-control back together and drew in a ragged breath just as the air… lurched. It felt like someone had sucked away all the pressure in the room and for a moment she felt weightless. And then it was gone and the darkness behind her eyes was colored with bright spots. Her knees felt a little wobbly and she staggered into the glass doors behind her. Swearing, she opened her eyes and found herself looking at a pile of clean clothing on the counter.

Fresh, clean clothing that looked _comfortable_.

Her hands shook a little as she lifted the soft, cotton, button-down shirt. It took her a few moments to realize it was a man's shirt and her fingers froze halfway through buttoning it up when she realized who was small enough to own a shirt that only hit the top of her thighs. She didn't know if Yahiko was around so that left…

She twisted around to find her old clothes and found they had disappeared. Well, there was no way she was going outside naked. The pants were her size and she pulled them on but was forced to roll the cuffs of the shirt up several times before she could deal with her hair. By the time she was ready to leave the relative safety of the bathroom she felt more human if not a little more in control of her emotions.

X

Misao stared at the piece of paper in her hand, her mouth set into a thin line. Another dead end.

Taking another deep, calming breath she slowly crumpled the paper in her hand and forced herself to think. The healer was moving fast but she was gaining. The little lady at the corner shop even remembered this Megumi Takani and had wondered at how frightened she looked.

She should be frightened, although Misao rather figured that she was more frightened by the giant Technicolor display of raw power that had ripped the mansion from the skyline two day ago than by anything else. Misao sympathized with that, she really did. Her own gut had turned to ice at the sight and the sickening, terrifying knowledge that Kaoru was somewhere in the middle of that had made her almost physically ill with terror.

Thankfully, they made excellent tea to deal with those situations – and when that hadn't helped she had raided her favourite aunt's liquor cabinet and gotten plastered. Once the hangover had receded a little and she had been able to think past the guilt – _oh shit_, _Kaoru going back had been her idea_ – She had settled into the task of fixing it.

Misao was certain Kaoru was alive. Everything that healer woman had said about Himura, everything _Kaoru_ had said about Himura and the damned dreams of blood gardens had given her an inordinate amount of hope. Kaoru had been alive to see that the gardens were bloody, after all, and she hadn't been suffering from a gaping wound in her chest or stomach at the time.

Hope.

So she was tracking down the healer. Which was taking far more time than she would have liked. All she had was a first name after all, and while all doctors were required to register with various state and magical boards, Misao had hacked into three databases and still hadn't located anyone with a name even remotely close to Megumi.

This was fine. So instead, she had begun creating a list of information that she had from what little conversation Kaoru had had with the woman. Doctor. Tall, thin. Had been practicing for years. Apparently had some affiliation with Himura and had magical healing talent. She had been in the area for some time (at least sixth months or more depending on the time line, but it gave her a starting point) and possibly of exceptional talent if she had gotten herself involved in this situation in the first place.

She had been fairly pleased that she had narrowed down the list to twenty people.

She was _not_ pleased that it had taken her over eighteen hours to track them all down. Now she had one more name and the woman matched this Megumi's physical description but was avoiding her. Misao was fairly certain that this healer was the one who had found Kaoru and when she got her hands on her…

If she got there first, anyway; from what she could see, this Megumi was being hunted down by several people and not just her. Tapping a finger against her lips, Misao considered the visitor who had been talking with her aunt the night before.

Misao was always wary when the Council felt it had the right to stick its nose in some business. She had been expecting it, of course – Technicolor explosions and the disappearance of space would catch their attention plenty quick, she just hadn't expect them to send an agent who fairly reeked of magic. It shouldn't have been possible for him to already be there… which made her wonder if he hadn't already been stationed near the mansion in the first place. But if the Council was already aware of what was going on why hadn't they done anything to lessen the effects or stop it?

Saitoh Hajime was going to be a problem. Eyes like his saw too much and there was a fair amount of magical talent lingering at the edges of his aura. Her aunt had been uncomfortable talking to him and her aunt could handle just about anything. So what had she missed? It was obvious he thought someone in the family knew something – but her reputation of being the magical misfit had served her well and he had simply left before dinner.

She hated being left out of the loop and the knowledge that she was running out of time ate at her. Well, that was fine. She liked a challenge. Squaring her shoulders and making sure the wards that were _supposed_ to keep her invisible to any seeking magics – and really just made the back of her eyeballs itch – were in her pockets, she set off again.

Because Kaoru was stuck in that mansion and she knew her best friend was fighting to get out.

X

"Are you sure you don't have any… I don't know… cheese and bread? I can do cheese and bread." Kaoru stared into the pantry before turning to her host. Himura had been gone by the time she exited the bathroom and she had been thankful for that. She didn't know how much more staring she could handle before she started tearing at her own hair. She needed to get out of the house and she was itching to make sure that the garden was okay.

It was the little things that were going to keep her sane, after all.

Tae looked affronted. "That is not a balanced meal."

Kaoru glared at her before turning back to the pantry. "Yeah well, at this rate I am going to _starve to death_."

"There is plenty of meat in the fridge."

Kaoru slowly peered around the edge of the cabinet door and frowned. "That would require me to possibly actually _cook_ something."

Tae crossed her arms and looked stern. Or tried to. The knowledge that she could toss forks through her not-quite-corporal form depending on the mood of the spell made it difficult for Kaoru to take her irritation seriously. It was much worse when she was actually threatening her with a spatula that could actually do damage.

Sighing, she reached up and tugged on her bangs. "Tae, I have had a couple of really bad days now. I need food. Now, I realize you don't know me but my cooking isn't… great. So unless you have an assortment of cold cuts and cheese in that fridge, everything else is going to be useless to me. Except eggs. I'm pretty decent at eggs. Mostly."

Tae frowned at her. "Kaoru…"

"We can argue over lunch." Kaoru tried, sounding desperate. "Please Tae…"

The shorter woman sighed. "There are muffins in the bread box. I made them yesterday, before… But we do we need to talk."

Kaoru frowned at her. "About what?"

"Kenshin."

"What about Himura?"

"Kenshin, Kaoru. Call him _Kenshin_. I thought we talked about that last night."

It was Kaoru's turn to cross her arms. Yes, they had. But calling him Kenshin gave him a name and… it brought with it the memory of soft violet eyes and bare feet; the smell of ginger and a warm moment shared in a library. If she thought of him that way – warm and intensely gentle – she might forget he was a predator and _that_ could get her _killed_.

"I remember you mentioning that… right around the time you were telling me to let him _lick me._"

Something else that made her stomach knot and her heart pound in her throat if she thought about it too long…

"It helped."

"I refuse to talk about it. At any time."

Tae looked frustrated. "If you would just _help him_ a little…"

Kaoru stared at her. "What?"

"I can't… just… let him help you!"

"Let him help me or I help him? Which is it?"

"Both." She took a deep breath. "I can't talk about it more than I have, I'm sorry." Her mouth twisted into something like a smile. "Terrible thing about these particular curses… they just don't let you talk about them. Just, _please_… _he_ would never hurt you, not intentionally and I don't think that his… more… _basic_ instincts would hurt you either."

This conversation was going nowhere fast. Growling, Kaoru stalked over the bread box and grabbed the first muffin there. Chocolate chip. Nodding, she turned on her heel and left the room. Tae didn't try to stop her but there was a frown etched between her eyebrows.

What did they think – that this was easy on her?

Sinking her teeth into the soft bread, she chewed rapidly and headed for the doors that would lead her out to the garden. She needed to _think_. Pushing the doors open, she took another bite and almost choked on it. The garden was… _ruined_. Kaoru stared at it in shock. She hadn't even considered what the events of the day before would have done to the roses and she suddenly had trouble swallowing the last of her muffin. It stuck in her throat.

What on earth had happened out here?

Trees were upended and the benches were cracked. It looked like the earth had shifted, displacing several large rose bushes and the rest were beginning to wilt. Petals had been shredded and torn from the vines, mingling with mulch and earth.

A bleeding garden.

The flashback from her dream sent a shudder down her spine and something started buzzing in the back of her skull. Setting her jaw, she marched towards the nearest shed to locate a wheelbarrow. The first thing she needed to do was pick up the branches and flowers and get them away from the rest of the plants. Then she could get a good view of how much damage had been done to the root system and she could at least attempt to repair it.

Even if being outside under the strange sky was making her edgy, it gave her something to do.

By the time her back started hurting she had barely made a dent in the mess. She had broken off three nails on her left hand when she had tripped on a root and overturned the wheelbarrow she had been using. That had just pissed her off even more and she was covered in dirt. Feeling ineffective, she stared at the landscape around her and considered kicking something.

"This place is a mess."

Kaoru turned, picked up a rock and threw it at Sano. It went clean through him, but it made her feel better.

"Hey! No need for violence! I was just... commenting."

"Oh shut up." Yahiko growled before turning to face the mess himself. "She did a number on it."

Kaoru swallowed her frustration and flopped on her back and tried to ignore the way her temples were starting to ache. Shutting her eyes so she didn't have to stare at the sky, she allowed herself to simply absorb the feeling of the garden around her.

"I hate it."

Their feet didn't even crunch on the mulch anymore. The only reason she knew they had moved was because a shadow fell over her face.

"Hate what?"

She moved her fingers. "This. All of this. What that crazy woman did. Yukishiro. There was no reason…" she cracked her eyes open and studied their guilty faces. "What?"

Yahiko looked uncomfortable but Sano looked downright nervous. "We can't tell you."

Pushing herself to her feet, she glared up at him. "I am getting really tired of hearing that."

Yahiko shifted his weight, "Doesn't make it less true."

Frustration welled up in her chest and threatened to choke her. Gritting her teeth, she started counting slowly in her head. That didn't help. Everything she was feeling was forming a tight knot just below her throat and it was going to surge up and suffocate her if she didn't do something; the buzzing in her head was making her slowly deaf and she wondered if it was possible to just keel over from too much stress…

Fisting her hands into knots she worked to get a grip on her sudden surge of temper – flipping the wheelbarrow wouldn't do her any good – so she ground her teeth together and finally stomped one foot in sheer frustration.

She was so damn tired of picking everything up just to have it ruined when she thought she was done! _She just wanted everything fixed_.

… and her foot sank into the earth and continued to swallow her until it hit her knee. The leg went numb and she careened forward, slamming down onto her knee and her palm scraping painfully into the dirt before they were swallowed as well. If she could have panicked past the high pitched buzzing in her ears, she would have. The earth moved around her leg and hands, and a sensation of heat crawled across her skin. The buzzing changed into something that almost sounded like the voices of small children and then for a single, clear moment there was silence and a pressure that pressed against her back and shoulders that needed _rele__a__se_…

Then the earth rolled and let her go. She found herself tumbled out of the ground that had tried to swallow her and she landed on her butt somehow, left leg completely numb. And before her disbelieving eyes everything changed. The dead branches, scattered mulch and broken flowers didn't move except where the earth had shifted but…

But the ground was smooth. Completely, effortlessly smooth the way it had been before it had been trashed. The rock paths even repaired themselves. There were no more cracks, no great jutting roots exposed to the air; just the debris and broken stones and flowers that looked like they needed attention… and the soft, almost giggle…

She felt light headed.

What…

"Holy shit…" Sano breathed eyes wide.

"She isn't going to like that at all," Yahiko whispered.

What the hell had that been?

Staring at the garden, she thought for a moment she heard a small, sweet voice whisper near her ear: _welcome_.

X

The apartment in front of her _definitely_ belonged to a healer. She could feel it. The fact that the north side of the garden was layered in large, brilliant roses put a bounce in her step because it had to be the one she was looking for. The connection of the flowers to what Kaoru had been doing was something she would have to look into further later. What was more interesting was how the very air seemed to thrum with life.

And none of it was noticeable until you passed through a barrier. It was just so… clean!

'_Those are some immensely powerful wards._'

Edging around the corner of the house, she frowned. The front door had been all but ripped off its hinges and there was glass on the ground. The ward in her pocket was fairly vibrating in reaction to whatever magical residue remained on the ground and she crouched down, letting her fingers brush against the soil.

Fear and sweat hit her, followed quickly by the impression of teeth. Frowning she pulled her hand back and tried to make sense of the images. Sometimes she really hated the way magic worked. Showing her that Megumi felt like a deer being hunted by a tiger wasn't going to do her any good except in making her consider investing in a much larger ward that worked as the equivalent to a tiger pit.

Oh well, she'd add that to the list of things to do later. Right now she had a trail to follow. If the images she was picking up were that clear then the fight had to have been recent. Which meant that if she moved quickly she might be able to find and help the good healer escape; then she'd have the time she needed to pick her brain.

If she was good at anything it was leaving false trails.

Whoever was chasing Megumi, however, was hardly worried about someone finding the trail. It was ground into the very earth and she was able to follow it at top speed. She made it a point to muffle her footsteps and to keep her magic and aura pulled tightly against her body. There would be little point in actually finding the healer if the guy chasing her could sense her approach. Unless they needed this Megumi for something, they would just kill her. Curses like the one that had done this to the Himura mansion required power and a lot of rage.

Sliding silently around a corner, she stilled when she caught sight of the two figures warily circling each other. The healer must have had some power, because the tall, white haired man with the obscenely orange pants was holding a… Misao tilted her head. He was holding a sword. And his smile wasn't exactly sane.

"I won't ask you again, healer."

"My answer has not changed. I betrayed him once by accident, I will not do it deliberately now."

The blonde shrugged and his stance changed.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Misao said pleasantly, ignoring the almost desperate look on the tall, thin woman's face as she made her presence known. She unclenched her fingers; it was a physical strain not to let the weight of the blades she had hidden in her sleeve fall between her fingers.

She was pretty sure there was no way in hell she was going to manage to injure the white haired man in front of her – who _the hell_ used swords anymore, _anyway_? – and his smile told her he knew it. Unfortunately for him, the way of the ninja had nothing to do with big, dramatic samurai battles but winning the small, less important ones.

And when all else fails, ignore ninja tactics all together and go for a really big explosion.

"Get out of here," Megumi said firmly, her lips pale with strain.

Misao shrugged. "I can't do that, I'm afraid."

The blonde shrugged. "Two deaths are no more problematic than one."

Misao smiled brightly at him, so wide the edges of her mouth stung. His eyes narrowed and she flicked her wrist out, letting loose dozens of small wards she had intended to use for another purpose. The pale eyes of the blond man widened and he cursed, diving to the side as they flared red hot and then shattered, leaving behind a blazing inferno of uncontrolled magic. They were loud against the inside of her head as Misao grabbed the healer and pulled her out of the alley.

"Come on, that won't distract him long and we need to lose our trail!"

"Don't you mean get him off our trail?"

"What good would that do? He'd simply pick it up again."

Pulling out two wards she flung them into the air while muttering a word of power. Boy, she hoped those worked. She didn't think the good healer was up for the traditional method of sneaking and hiding to lose an opponent and she really didn't feel the need to lose that much time. Grinning widely, she dragged her into the market that was humming with energy and pulled Megumi through the complicated stalls and dragged them both through as much uncharted magic clinging to the braziers as possible.

The tea shop she was aiming for was a welcome sight. Sliding in through the side door, she pointed to a chair and waited for the wary, gasping woman to take her seat. The taller woman coughed heavily before raising her eyes. The expression was guarded.

"Who are you and why did you help me?"

"You're Megumi. I'm Misao." Her smile showed more teeth than was strictly polite. "Where is Kaoru?"

X

Kaoru told herself that tracking dirt through the mansion would give Tae something to do other than worry. Rubbing her freshly washed palms together, she slowly moved through the library. The shelves were a good twenty feet high so that meant she was going to have to use the ladder to get around if she really wanted to see what was up there.

And she really needed answers.

That had been magic outside… not to mention that the garden had partially swallowed and then apparently spat her back out. Kami knew she had spent enough time around Misao's crazy clan to know what magic looked like but she wasn't supposed to be able to do any of that. She had been tested, repeatedly, and nothing had even blinked on those scales. Except, of course, she had apparently just fixed the damage that had been done to the garden and she didn't even have one of those reaction headaches that could lay Misao up for hours after she tried a new spell.

Shinomori hadn't said anything about the possibility of magic. Not that he had said a lot in the first place… just that half assed explanation that they were all disappearing. She was getting ahead of herself and trying not to think of anything that had happened in the garden. Sitting on a chair she squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to think of the two issues that were really troubling her.

What exactly did she know about what was going on and how the hell had she done… _that_. And she was going to get answers because dammit, if she could sling around a garden then she could find a way to start hitting people over the head with something bokken-like and making sure it hurt.

What exactly had Shinomori said? What had they all said? Best to start from the beginning then and work her way through what she knew so that she could… possibly find out what was going on through whatever information was available in this damn library. There had to be something she was missing.

Tapping her fingers on her thigh, she considered everything that had occurred since she started working there. Tae and Gensai hadn't apparently aged a day since she graduated from high school and stopped working at the mansion. Six years wasn't a lot of time but there should have been some change, she supposed. So maybe that had some connection to everything that had happened here.

She hadn't seen the strange, yellow-eyed security guy since her second day on the job. Saitoh. That was it. He seemed to be missing. Although a great deal of the staff seemed to have completely disappeared, so maybe they hadn't been pulled into the vortex… but then, why had the ones who were still here… maybe she had been pulled in because she could _rearranged earth_.

Biting her lip hard enough to taste blood, she turned her mind back to Megumi. Megumi had said there was a curse and she had tried to fix it; that it had backfired. How had she tried to fix it? Kaoru would most certainly say that being stuck wherever they were with everyone around her impossible to touch as a sort of _backfire_… but there was proof that that was actually part of the spell that Megumi had tampered with. So what, then?

And why were Sano and Yahiko worried about what Yukishiro would think? Did that mean that the woman would just drop in whenever she wanted? Fuck. She really hoped not.

Then there was Himura… who was _insane_ or getting there really fast. Except everyone kept saying that he wasn't… It was clear that whatever had been done to him had made speech difficult or impossible for him. Did that mean he could explain things to her if she could figure out how to fix him? Frustrated, she tapped her foot against the floor. Did she really want to spend enough time around whatever he had become to find out? The possibility of knowing what he was thinking behind those angled, predatory eyes made her heart pound and she had to swallow several times to work moisture back into her mouth. No. Most certainly, definitely _no_.

It didn't help that everyone was trying so hard to push them together. Did that mean Himura was the key to getting this… this… _fixed_; that he needed her help to do it? Oh _kami_, she hoped not. Biting her lower lip, she swallowed. What did it mean if he was? Closing her eyes, she took a deep calming breath and pushed down the butterflies that were lodged in her chest.

Yukishiro. Who was she? Why was she doing this? What was so damn important about the garden that she had attempted to shred it and what… something about that name was sending off a niggling sensation in the back of her skull. She should have remembered it… where had she heard it before?

Kaoru took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Okay. So the best place to start figuring this out was at the beginning. She didn't know where that was but she did know who was involved, Himura and the Yukishiro woman. Mages tended to live in clans so it was possible that Yukishiro was a clan name the same as Himura or Makimachi… which might be where she had heard it before.

So it was just a matter of seeing if this library had any documents connecting the two and how.

Which meant she needed to get up and crawl up that ladder and start looking because if she wanted to hide something she would have put it out of immediate reach… damn. Sighing, she forced her tired muscles and still tingling leg to work. Standing, she arched her neck and slowly turned in a circle.

"How the hell am I supposed to find clan histories in this place?" She spoke the words out loud because it was too quiet and she licked chapped and bruised lips when the air shifted around her skin. She turned again, looking for some sign of presence in the room and swallowed.

"Hello?"

Nothing. She was certain she would have seen Himura. Reaching up to rub her suddenly aching head she took a long, shuddering breath.

The sound of wood creaking against wood had her head snapping up and she stared at one of the tall ladders as it slowly moved itself along the shelf. Breath catching in her throat, she bit her lip as it finally came to a stop directly in front of her and _wiggled_.

Kaoru stared at it and it wiggled again. Seven rows up, a book shifted forward and dipped in her direction.

"You have to be joking…"

This time the books around it fairly vibrated. Wiping sweaty palms onto her clothes she inched forward and very slowly moved to grip a rung. It was warm under her hand and for a moment she thought she smelled roses… and then it was gone and the wood was cold under her fingers. Swallowing again, she began her climb and called herself every type of fool. Bracing herself on the ladder by wrapping her foot around a rung, she reached for the book.

And found herself starring at a book that looked several hundreds of years old and clearly labelled as a history book of some sort. Taking a deep breath, she opened it. A slow, tentative smile curled her lips. Clan history.

"Thank you."

Kaoru didn't know what or who she was thanking but she had a starting point. Thumbing through the book, she started to browse through the pages, wondering what exactly she was looking for. She wasn't certain how long she had been thumbing through history books when the sound of the door opening and shutting caught her attention. Clenching her fingers around the spine, she turned and her heart started hammering in her chest.

"So you survived after all."

Kaoru swallowed down her fear, squared her shoulders and stared down at the woman watching her from dark red eyes. "Yukishiro."

The edges of the woman's mouth curled. "Call me Tomoe. I always felt a murder attempt should leave the adversaries on a first name basis, _Kamiya_ _Kaoru_."

Kaoru said nothing, unsure how she was supposed to proceed.

"It is a pity that he didn't kill you in the garden. Your presence here slows my plans down. It's nothing personal, you know."

"Nothing personal," Kaoru repeated, eyes narrowed.

The slight smile never left her mouth. "No. I have waited a long time to have my revenge, Kamiya Kaoru – and I find that I am growing impatient. You will tell me where you hid the remains of the plant that is holding this damn mansion together and I will make your death quick."

Kaoru tilted her chin. "And if I don't?"

"Then your death will take longer." Tomoe sighed. "I do hate torture; it seems to… lack something of elegance. I suppose we could just let this charade play its way out and then Kenshin will rip you to shreds himself but…" her lips twisted. "I find I do not wish to wait that long."

"I won't tell you anything."

She sighed. "I suppose I should have expected that."

"Yes, I imagine most people are not particularly fond of cooperating with those who have tried to kill them."

Tomoe smiled. "Well, we do what we must."

Before Kaoru could ask what she meant by _that_, the air pressure changed, heating rapidly until it hurt to breathe through the rage of it. Kaoru would have been terrified of the sort of power it took to do that except Tomoe didn't appear to be directing it. Scowling, Tomoe lifted her hand and started muttering in a language that grated on her ears. She had nothing… her eyes lowered to her hand.

She threw the book.

The blast went low as Tomoe was forced to use her hands to stop the book from hitting her face instead of aiming the attack and it incinerated the ladder beneath her feet. Scrambling at the bookcase for some sort of purchase, she yelped when she lost the battle with gravity. An inhuman roar shook the room just as her foot refused to untangle from the remains of the rung and she twisted around, grabbing for the shelf. Her hands slipped and her head slammed into a wooden shelf; the world swam and faded as her body dropped to the floor.

X

Kaoru knew she was dreaming.

She just wished she understood what she was seeing. She wasn't afraid because dreams couldn't hurt her – but she still she couldn't stand up. The vines had tangled in her hair and when she moved the faint bite of thorns pressed into her arms and legs, against her throat. The sweet scent of roses was almost overwhelming and just at the edges of her senses she could hear faint, curious whispers.

A moment ago she would have sworn something soft slid down the side of her neck.

She couldn't look away from the man in front of her to see what it was.

It was the same man she had seen before when the flowers bled, but he was different. He was as naked as before, but this time the air around him _shimmered_ and he appeared to be buried from the hips down. As she watched he wrapped his fingers around a single rose.

And his hands started bleeding.

_Kenshin Himura_.

The name skittered across her conscious without her permission and his head twisted in that strange animal grace that made her heart pound for reasons she wasn't ready to examine just yet… and his eyes met hers. The violet was heavily threaded with amber and when his lips pulled away from his teeth they were not-quite-fangs and they glittered. The muscles in his shoulders rolled as he lifted a hand in her direction but her world was narrowing down to the expression in those eyes.

Heat. _Hope_. And a desire that made her mouth run dry. She couldn't flinch away or lean towards him, the vines and heavy flowers were holding her still. So she curled her fingers into the ground and she realized that they were wet. Something hot dripped onto her cheek and she lowered her eyes from the scorching gaze of the man watching her to the ground.

Everything was covered in blood.

X

Kaoru woke with someone's hands in her hair. Blurrily, she tried the swat the offending objects away as she worked to peel her own eyelids open. The world was a bright mix of red and yellow so she slammed them shut and groaned. _Bad idea_. Shifting in the vague hope that sitting up would help her scrambled brains right themselves; she froze when the warm surface she was laying on moved.

And the faint, careful movements of claws against her scalp told her exactly who she was using as a pillow. Cautious of the light, she cracked one eye open and then the other. Himura had pulled her partly into his lap and was feathering his clawed hands against the back of her scalp. His fingers brushed a sore spot and she flinched away from him… and suddenly became aware of the pounding in her temples.

At least this time he had pants on.

Swallowing, she tilted her head back and looked up at Himura. His eyes were flat with temper and pale, wheat-gold lines were bleeding away from his pupil, cutting into the darker bronze and amber tones but the rest of his face was composed. No violet. No raw, burning need. Just a smouldering temper and the strong angle of his jaw.

She hoped he didn't notice the way her pulse was picking up speed.

What had Tae said about dealing with him?

Swallowing, she closed her eyes again; she really hoped this worked. "My head hurts."

She felt him still; even the hand that had curved around what she was certain was going to be a fairly decent sized goose egg. For a moment she wasn't even sure he was breathing and then he sighed, a deep, ragged noise that was followed by the air pressure shifting around them. Kaoru was beginning to recognize it as a sign of magic… at least here. The fingers in her hair untangled themselves and for a moment she thought he was going to help her sit up before the edges of claws scrapped her temples, followed by the warmly calloused fingertips. They pressed against her temples before moving slowly along her scalp to the edges of the knot – and left behind warmth and tingles that slowly faded the pounding in her skull away.

Then his hands were on her shoulders and carefully helping her sit up, fingers deliberately brushing against her body in ways that were not completely polite. The knot in her gut was slowly easing – and being replaced with those damn nervous flutterings – and even when she found herself leaning against his shoulder to catch her bearings as she reopened her eyes, none of her acidic like panic ate at her stomach with his presence. Carefully, she shifted so that she was a little more comfortable and glanced up at Himura through her lashes, trying to gauge his reaction. His eyes were still hot with temper but his jaw was no longer clenched so tightly she could hear his teeth grinding.

"This would be a lot easier if you could talk."

He closed his eyes and leaned into her a little. She took a deep breath.

Tomoe had tried to kill her. Tomoe that thought she was hiding something. Something that was protecting the people here; Tomoe didn't want Kenshin to find it. It had something to do with the garden.

She had called her Kamiya Kaoru instead of Kaoru Kamiya. Maybe that was a hint…

"And I'm sorry I don't…"

That was as far as she managed before she found herself sprawled in his lap, cheek pressed up against his chest. His body was vibrating with the force of his growl and her hands flexed against the shirt she had caught between her fingers in an instinctive reaction to balance herself. His nose slid down the side of her face and settled just below her ear, where he snarled.

For a moment, she was too startled to move. Hot breath ghosted down her cheek and neck; fangs pressed lightly against her skin and for a moment she _felt_ the animal. Something primal warmed her stomach and left her feeling breathless. And it pissed her off. She was tired of being bullied around and she was not _attracted_ to this… this… well, she was _tired of being bullied_. It was time she did something about it. Letting go of his shirt, she reached around to his back, fisted her hand in his hair and jerked.

His head pulled back and yellow eyes narrowed as she stared up at him. This morning was not going well for her. She had done what she thought might have been magic, Tae was being bossy in the kitchen, Tomoe had tried to kill her and now this… man was being irritable with her because she _was trying to apologize_.

"_Stop it_." Her tone was sharp and she met his glare head on. "I am not a child to be pushed around, Himura. I _can_ apologize for things I am responsible for, _regardless_ of your opinion."

His lips lifted away from his teeth and she tightened her grip on his hair. "_No_."

One of the hands that had been resting on her hip slid around to her back and up her spine before his long fingers encircled the back of her neck. Claws pricked hers skin but she held his gaze.

"I am tired of being bullied."

His hand stopped moving – even if the claws were digging in lightly – so she took a deep breath and continued.

"I am not happy about this situation, I don't like being unaware of what is going on but I am most certainly not keen about slowly fading away or being murdered, either. Tae said you won't hurt me…. Not on purpose anyway and that she can't help me figure out what is going on. Is that true?"

Something flickered against the corner of her mind – a delicate scrap of claws or teeth; not unlike the sensation of voices in the garden – and then he relaxed against her, body uncoiling. She hadn't even noticed that level of tension until it was gone. She almost swallowed her tongue in surprise when he offered her the line of his neck, watching her from those lazy yellow eyes.

She rather thought that was a yes.

"I want my ward back." She hadn't even noticed it was missing until now. She wondered what it could have done to protect her from Tomoe.

A low level vibration rumbled between them.

"I don't know who has it but…" She tilted her chin at him. "I won't be defenseless next time that… Tomoe decides she wants to kill me."

The teeth at her throat surprised her. He moved too fast her to follow but she was starting to get the feel for this sort of communication. He was responding like a predator. Instead of struggling like every bone and muscle in her body demanded, she unlocked her muscles one by one until he was supporting her weight. She couldn't quite unlock her death grip on his shirt or the muscles in her thighs, but he seemed to notice the attempt and a warm tongue replaced his teeth.

With her throat bare to his mouth – the way her heart was hammering in her chest was making it hard to hear herself think – she tried again.

"I'm not saying that…" she paused when the fingers that had tangled in her hair moved warningly and she decided to change the subject. She was sprawled across his lap and his mouth was moving against her neck in soft, butterfly tingles and she was finding out that her lungs weren't working properly. She had to force each even breath and she tightened her hold on his hair. He made no move to release her and even with his fangs scraping gently across her skin, his hold was surprisingly gentle.

His posture didn't appear to be threatening and his fingers were moving in soft circles against her scalp. The last of her muscles relaxed and she found her nose pressed up against his neck as he continued to hold her.

He was so damn warm.

Shutting her eyes, she reminded herself that he had his fangs against her neck and… but maybe he could… if she could only learn to understand what he was trying to tell her. Misao would never forgive her if she went and disappeared and… she wouldn't forgive herself if she let something small like the fear of a slow, painful death stop her from getting out of this mess.

_Because that was all this was. _

"Can you help me with the flowers?" Her words came out softer than she intended and she swallowed to work moisture into her mouth.

His arms slackened and her eyes flew opened, startled, when the tip of his tongue traced her pulse before letting her slide down away from his mouth. His eyes were filled with the look from the dream and she swallowed, hard.

Taking a deep breath, she explained herself.

"Tomoe seems to think that there is something in the garden that is dangerous to her. I don't know what it is although I think you do." He didn't even blink. "So what we need to do is fix _everything_ so that she can't figure it out until we find a way to get out of here."

Slowly, gaze never leaving hers; he helped her sit back up. Her muscles felt a little watery but he didn't seem to mind the way she used his shoulder to push herself to her feet. Brushing off her pants – she winced when dirt flaked off her fingers and to the mostly clean floor – she was startled when he caught her hand, staring at the edges of her fingers. They were bruised and one finger nail was caked with blood.

"Oh, they're fine; don't…"

Deliberately, gaze on hers, he sucked the tips of her fingers between his lips. The soft, velvet strokes of his tongue had her eyes widening, knees locking in place as he deliberately took his time with each finger. Her breathing had deepened without her permission and when he finally let her hand go and looked at the other, she tucked it behind her back.

There was no reason that her stomach should have _those_ sorts of butterflies.

Swallowing at the expression in those damn eyes she took a slow, very deliberate step away from him, angling her body towards the door and hoping it hid the way she her knees wobbled just a little.

"Shall we?"

X

Misao curled her fingers around her mug of weak tea and stared at the shivering woman in front of her. Taking another hot sip, she leaned back. The doctor was still refusing to meet her eyes and that was fine.

"I'll spring for some pie but you're going to have to start talking. This isn't a reward system for lack of results, you know."

"I wasn't aware this was a reward system at all," The woman said finally, sounding tired.

Misao smiled, over the edge of her cup. "Oh, it's not. But I figure if I get something warm and edible in you, you're less likely to faint on me."

That roused the woman enough for her to straighten her spine.

"I…" her words died as she finally met Misao's gaze.

Misao kept her expression pleasant. "Let me make this clear so you understand exactly what is going on, alright? Two days ago our time, my best friend and the mansion she was in disappeared. I want them back. You're going to help me figure out how to do that or I'm going to take you back to my apartment and give magical interrogation a shot."

The full mouth thinned. "You won't break me."

Misao shrugged and took another sip of her drink. "Probably not, but what I will end up doing is splattering you about one piece at a time. I am a terrible conventional mage but I've sort of figured out how to _direct it_, shall we say. And I'm going to be a lot better at directing by the time you and I are finished with that conversation."

Megumi paled. "But… in the alley."

"Oh that?" Misao brightened, reaching into her pocket and slapping down a fairly singed ward. "That was just a little misdirection. I've discovered I have a knack for that. But actual application of magic?" She wiggled her fingers with a huge smile. "Things tend to go boom. For the record though, I don't want to splatter you. That will take time and my gut says we don't have a lot of that left."

"You can't help them."

Misao lifted a brow. "Oh?"

"No one can counter a curse over three hundred years old."

Misao looked thoughtful and shrugged. "Did you try?"

"Yes."

"Then let's hope I get real good at directing in the near future, lady, because we're going to try again. Now why don't you explain to me what happened?"

Megumi shook her head, lines around her mouth and eyes strained. "I cannot."

Misao lifted a brow. "You do understand that the words 'painful death' usually don't go so well with 'slow' in the same sentence?"

The healer took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. But you already know too much. Anymore could risk the life of your friend."

"Her life is already at risk," Misao said mildly. "I understand curses, lady. I do understand that you are limited and I may, on some level, even sympathize with you. But you are going to tell me what I need to do to help Kaoru."

She went to open her mouth but what little color she had left in her face drained away. Misao hooked her foot around the healer's ankle and twisted around. In front of the door at the coffee shop was a tall, sharp jawed man with cold yellow eyes. Pinned to his chest as an insignia that had Misao biting back a curse.

"Saitoh," Megumi whispered.

* * *

_**Please comment!**_


	4. Chapter 4

I don't think I remember how many drafts this has gone through. The only reason this is even close to getting up is because Vashka is amazing and wonderful and has insight like woah. So thank her.

One maybe two chapters left.

Ravyn

* * *

This… this was not her garden. Frowning, Kaoru slowly turned in a circle and tried to understand why this place felt so familiar but looked so… _different_. Blowing out a breath, she slowly moved down the rough stone path, eyes trying to find something that was familiar. Biting down on her lower lip, she decided that this had to be another one of those dreams. Lifting her hands to her face she frowned at the broken and cracked nails. She had spent the afternoon with Himura – no, Kenshin. They had asked her to call him Kenshin – working to fix the damage and refusing to linger over any one plant. They had worked until her back and shoulders ached – she had expected her hair to be standing on end from the buzz and spark in the air.

No, she knew her garden and this wasn't it. So what were her dreams trying to show her this time? Moving gingerly (her feet were bare and the stone was cold) she followed the direction the buzzing in the back of her skull seemed to be pointing her. Her ear drums started to hurt the deeper she moved into the garden. It was cold. Wrapping her arms around herself, she shivered.

The trees were darker here… darker and drained of whatever seemed to have given this garden its vitality. Wincing, she stepped around cracked and broken rocks, curling her toes in the hope to avoid cutting herself. She thought she saw a dark stain or two that looked wet – and the possibility for blood alarmed her. Cursing under her breath she looked up and froze.

In the middle of a decayed and dripping glade was a dead tree. It looked like it had rotted from the inside out and was hanging limply to one side. Dark, black liquid oozed from its bark and there was a large puddle of the thick substance coating the exposed roots. Watching it, she breathed in deeply and starting coughing.

It smelled terrible.

What was this? She had no idea what the tree was and had no idea why the garden was showing her this… was this part of the spell? She was loath to walk any closer to whatever this was. Shivering violently now, she was finding it hard to breathe. Something tugged at the back of her mind and she leaned over to brace her hands on knees, coughing hard enough to rattle her teeth as the air suddenly felt thicker. Reaching up with one hand to press against her pounding temple, she heard the sound of something snarling and then a warm, heavy weight was barreling into her side like linebacker. Kaoru gasped as her body landed in the earth and mulch. Looking up, she was stunned by the violence and temper in his eyes. The imagery blurred around them and that gasping, choking feeling was gone. There was no sign of the dead _thing_ and the air smelled like her garden.

Except…

A sharply clawed hand fisted against her scalp and tilted her head back. She sucked in a deep breath just before he lowered his head and caught her lower lip between his too sharp teeth – the force holding her head in place as yellow eyes stared down at her. She hardly dared to breathe as she stared up at him. His lashes lowered till the gold was just a glimmer of color and then his tongue stroked delicately against her bottom lip, rubbing against the bruised flesh. Her hands curled against his back and something low and warm vibrated from his throat. She squeezed her eyes shut as he released her lip; the hand against her throat lightly dragging claws up the side of her neck and then around the side of shoulder, all the while laying gentle, feather soft kisses along the edges of her lips. Breathing raggedly, she scrambled to catch her bearings as he pulled back to study her.

She swallowed heavily at the glittering expression behind his gaze. The hand moving along her spine settled between her shoulder blades and the hand in her hair relaxed into an open palm, cradling instead of holding. As he continued to just watch her, the faint almost sound began buzzing at the edges of her hearing. Relaxing a little as Himura seemed content to just watch her, she opened her mouth to ask him _to let her go_ when the edge of his mouth kicked up.

Before she could say anything the hand against her back flexed, arching her spine upwards to flatten her breasts against his chest – pressing his lips against hers. The kiss was hard, tongue sliding between her lips to find all the places that made her shiver. A low purr vibrated between them and she clutched at the muscles along his shoulders and back, leg curling around the back of his knees as she hung in his arms.

Kaoru couldn't breathe as his tongue swept through her mouth – _claiming_. Could hardly think as claws scraped down her spine, fingers digging into back of her thigh as he ground their hips together; heat washed through her blood in a wave and sparks flickered across the back of her closed lids. Gasping when his mouth released hers, she dug her hands into the muscle in his back and gasp as his teeth caught her ear.

As he lowered them both to earth, her foot dug into the mulch; sinking ankle deep. Startled, she lowered her eyes, watching as the ground crawled up her calf. Gasping in shock, she twisted to watch as it pulled at Himura, tugging him as well. Panic crawled into her throat and even the low, vibrating noise building in his chest didn't help as she was tugged further into the rose garden. She couldn't wiggle away, tangled around and with Himura. Lifting terrified eyes to his – the garden was _trying to swallow her_ – she was stunned at the utter need in his eyes as he gazed down at her. She swallowed around the knot in her throat and watched him, heart hammering in her ears. The expression darkened and he lowered his head to her throat… and bit down hard enough to break skin.

Kaoru snapped straight into a sitting position and automatically scrambled back against the headboard, fingers clutching a pillow with a white knuckled grip as she frantically looked around the room, squinting to see any sign of Himura. When it was clear she was alone she swallowed hard and shook with reaction.

The dream had been… _Why had she, why had __**he**_… running shaking fingers through her bangs, she lowered her hand to the place where she vividly remembered his teeth sinking into her skin. Sharp, fanged teeth that had no resemblance to her own; the skin felt smooth and unmarked and she wrapped her arms around herself.

If he wasn't here _where was he_? Throwing her legs over the side of the bed and she all but staggered to the window. The strange sky was the same terrible color as always and she wished she knew if it was day or not. It was so hard to tell. Eyes scanning the dully colored garden, she bit her lip hard enough to bleed.

Crouching among the flowers, head back, barefoot and wild was Himura – staring at her as if he could cover the distance between them in but a moment if she gave the wrong signal. Swallowing she took careful steps back until she couldn't see him anymore. Sitting down on the floor, she curled her knees to her chest and shivered.

Her legs smelled like earth and her head was starting to pound. But there hadn't been any sign of the bite mark. Reaching up, she folded her hand over her neck and swallowed. She wished she knew what was causing the dreams and who was sending them. Yukishiro? She doubted it. That woman would probably just show her images of her own death – but that tree… that oozing, infected tree had been something else. Something _old_. And in her dream she had thought that the garden was trying to talk to her. Trembling – because any chance of winning depended on her ability to _know_ – she curled on her side and swallowed back her tears.

As soon as she got a grip on herself she was going right back to the library and she was going to find some answers. She _had to_.

X

Hajime Saitoh wasn't his only name.

It was the one truth Misao had been able to dig up on the overly cranky mage, but it hadn't told her much besides the fact that it gave him a way to hide. Magic clung to the name Saitoh but whatever his other name was… One of her Aunts had admitted that he worked for the Council but for years Misao had simply assumed he was around to make sure that none of the teachers blew up one of their more irritating students in an attempt to save their sanity. But after two days of digging through the town's history and the dirty secrets of the Himura family, she had turned her eyes back to the Council. It was obvious that they were hiding something and even more obvious once you stopped looking at the surface that Saitoh was involved.

"What are you doing here?" Misao demanded, rising to her feet and putting herself between Saitoh and the doctor. She needed answers and she wasn't going to let the Council's lap dog –even if it was more of a rabid wolf – get in her way.

"I could ask you same thing, Makimachi. You've been fooling around with magic you have no understanding of."

Misao lifted her chin. "If you want information then go ahead and charge me."

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "You're clan won't be able to help you if you have broken mage laws."

"Prove it." She suggested, arms crossed.

"Saitoh, it has been a while."

Misao cut her eyes back and forth between them and scowled. "You two know each other?"

"We've met."

Megumi lifted her chin. "I told her the same thing I told you. I cannot talk about it. I'm bound too close to what happened and it might destroy everything."

"At this point, enough damage has been done. I don't see how discussing your idiocy would change anything."

Misao gave the golden eyed man one more scathing look before settling into a more comfortable position and staring at Megumi. "He said you could now, so talk."

Megumi glared at them both and Misao decided to help her out a little.

"So how exactly did Himura get stuck with this curse in the first place?" Misao asked. "I'm no slouch at magical theory and my history with it tells me that this sort of power takes generations to build but to actually set it…"

"That is my fault," Megumi murmured, her voice strained. "Most of this is my fault."

Misao gave her a searching look. "If you're centuries old you really need to share your beauty secrets."

Saitoh breathed out a lungful of smoke. "The healer is not responsible for creating the spell although she did set it off."

"How?"

Megumi clasped her hands together and stared at her fingers for a long moment. "Kenshin saved me. In the process, he stepped outside of the protections that should have kept him safe from the curse just long enough to let it attach. That would have been the end of it but… there was an attempt to remove it that went badly."

Misao stared at her and decided that there were details missing. Big ones. Sighing, she decided she would just break into the Council's files later. She didn't have time to be picky right now.

"So you just thought you could break a curse that had been building power for two centuries?"

Megumi ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. "I didn't know it had been that long… or at least… there was some speculation of course but no one really _understood_…"

Misao made a disgusted noise and turned to face Saitoh. "And your beloved council just let it sit there, festering? On a family that is protecting a node?"

"The Himura family has lost some of its… popularity over the years." Saitoh dragged in a lungful of cigarette. "At the time there were more pressing matters."

"Yes. I can see that. _Brilliant_ foresight."

Saitoh shrugged. "The protections would have held if that idiot hadn't overstepped his ability. He has no one to blame but himself… and the idiots he chooses to surround himself with."

"Notably, you're among those."

"I am merely here at the Council's bidding. If Himura is let loose he will be… put down."

Misao bared her teeth at him and turned back to Megumi. The doctor's eyes were glittering and she flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"The Council is full of cowards."

Saitoh drop his cigarette and ground it into the floor with his boot. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out another one. Misao made a face.

"Right. Then we'll just make sure Himura is okay. I need to know what you did to the garden, Megumi."

She blinked at her. "Why?"

Misao leaned back, tilting one brow upward. "Because we need to know what we're working with. If this Yukishiro wants to kill you, it's for a reason and we need to figure that out. So start talking."

Megumi let out a long breath and settled in her chair, eyes unfocused. "What do you know about nodes?"

"On a scale of one to ten I'm sitting on about an eight."

Saitoh snorted and Misao ignored him.

"I know that Himura's family is supposedly guarding one, I know that Kenshin isn't really a mage per se and I know that transferring the node over to someone else would make a real big mess. Kind of like the one we currently have on our hands so maybe you could talk more and ask questions later?"

Megumi looked irritated but complied. "Node magic works differently. I don't believe we need to discuss the particulars here. Have you heard of the Labyrinth?"

"Greek stuff. Old legends. Fairly boring. Why?"

"Because the reason the Labyrinth was so difficult to defeat was because it was the manifestation of a node." When Misao didn't do anything, she sighed. "Himura's estate is a manifestation of a node and it wants to keep him. What I tried to do was shift the curse from directly attacking Himura to the garden itself."

"Wait, wait… _what_?"

Megumi pursed her lips for a moment before sighing. "The curse is linked to Himura's bloodline. Because of their direct affiliation with the node, it has deliberately been blocking them from coming to any magical harm. That is what allowed the curse to build up and change over the years to what it is now… information we did not have at the time."

Misao waved her hands. "I got that. What did you mean by _redirecting_?"

"What she attempted to do was force several centuries worth of buildup to change directions for its intent. By forcing the curse to accept the garden instead of Himura, the node would have taken the full brunt of the curse instead of Himura himself."

Misao stared at her for several long minutes. "That… seems like a fairly bad idea. Most magical power signatures do not respond well to this sort of curse! You could have completely disrupted the node and destroyed the magic in this part of the country for _years_!"

Saitoh grunted. "It was amazingly stupid."

Megumi snarled. "We didn't have all the information the Council was just sitting on, _did we_, Saitoh?"

He blew out a smoke ring. "Your request was processing."

"It was _killing him_!"

Misao jumped to her feet. "Hey, settle down. Fighting isn't going to solve anything." She narrowed her eyes at Saitoh. "You keep deliberately poking at her and I'm going to turn you into something fluffy."

"Try it."

She bared her teeth and turned back to Megumi. "What went wrong?"

"I don't know." Megumi suddenly looked tired. "Based on all the information we had… nothing should have gone wrong. Even _Shinomori_… I suppose it doesn't matter now."

Misao ran both hands through her bangs and sighed heavily. "Okay. What type of defensive wards did you use to filter out the curse and other entities that might have screwed with the spell?"

Megumi's expression went blank. Misao groaned.

"You attempted that level of magic and you didn't filter outside influences out?"

"Of course we did. _I just didn't_…" she looked frustrated. "We didn't expect the garden to take control of the spell when it started to go wrong."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I told you, its _old magic_; Labyrinth walls _moved._ On their own. When the spell started to slip the garden… grabbed it. Except it wasn't a clean transfer because I didn't know what it was doing…" she braced her elbows on the table and rubbed her forehead. "It tied Himura's sanity to it."

Misao sat down and seriously considered beating her head against the table in frustration. This was like pulling teeth without the benefit of pliers! Digging her knuckles into her eyes, she gave herself a moment to considering breaking something before taking a deep breath and starting over.

"Okay. Let me get this straight. Himura's blood line is cursed. Himura activated the curse when he over extended his families natural defenses from the node to protect you. Said curse started to kill him. You attempted to redirect the curse because you couldn't flat out remove it for reasons that you have not yet explained, but I can guess at. Said node/garden entity did not approve of this plan. Because while it is _old magic_, you seemed to have failed to take it into account and grabbed the magic you were using and redirected it, thus tying Himura's mental stability/whatever to the garden."

Megumi nodded silently.

"Two questions then: One, why the hell did it grab his mind and two, what part of all this did that?" She pointed in the direction of the empty space the Mansion was once a part of.

"Because every garden needs a Minotaur."

Misao jerked her head around and gawked at Saitoh. "Himura _is a Minotaur_? 'Eat young, beautiful, _virginal sacrifices' type Minotaur_?"

Megumi slammed her hands onto the table. "That is not what this is!"

Saitoh ignored her. "The node chose the most direct path to protecting the Himura line. By choosing to tie his mental state to its garden it allowed Himura to develop a set of impressive instincts that will keep the node safe as long as he is living. I suppose in a way it did what you need it to do. It saved his life. The rest is negotiable."

Misao curled her fingers into fists. "Then why does it need Kaoru?"

"Himura must have children at some point to protect the line."

Megumi lunged to her feet. "You're twisting things for your own purposes!"

Misao crossed her arms and stared at the doctor. "You sent my best friend back into a garden to be raped by something that has the mentality of a _Minotaur_?"

"He _isn't_…" Megumi looked frustrated. "Yes, the garden will do anything to protect itself and the Himura family, but it _would not_ allow Himura to lose all control if it can help it. It cannot risk his death or his complete insanity but it has apparently chosen insanity over death. But if Himura loses completely control then the Garden will be destroyed. He will not be able to maintain his control on the garden or the node – which is what Yukishiro wants. If she can destabilize Kenshin enough, then neither the node nor Kenshin will be able to hold each other. And if she can't kill Himura with the curse then she will do everything she can to help the Council kill him."

"But why does it need Kaoru!"

"I don't know! It might have had something to do with the fact that the spell was tied to a single rose bush. The garden was hiding it but… something like that needs care. I don't know why it decided Kaoru was the one to help it, I just know it did. I couldn't…" her hands balled into fists. "It stopped the spell from eating at the rest of him and the garden was thriving under her hands and she isn't even tied to the node."

"What went wrong?"

Megumi sat back down as if all the strength had left her knees. "For this type of reaction… the only explanation is that Yukishiro found the rose and destroyed it. It means that the curse is fully activated now and whatever world they are in will eat away at itself until there is nothing left of the garden or Kenshin… leaving behind un-stabilized node magic that Yukishiro will try to claim for herself."

Misao froze. "What does that mean?"

Saitoh snorted. "It means that your friend is dead and it's only a matter of time before Himura loses the node."

Misao stared at him with a stricken face before her mouth hardened. "No."

Smoke blew through the air. "No?"

"If Kaoru was dead and Himura was losing control of the node, then why attack Megumi? Why not just take the mansion and the garden and prove you were in control?" She shook her head. "No, Kaoru is still alive which means that this Yukishiro bitch hasn't won yet."

"Perhaps you are not useless after all."

Misao snorted. "The irony; you work for the Council which equals utter uselessness. We wouldn't even be in this mess if they did their damn jobs."

"Such talk could be considered treason."

Misao rolled her eyes and turned her back to him deliberately. "So why does Yukishiro want you dead."

Megumi looked startled. "What?"

Misao sighed. "Something about you is annoying her enough to split her resources. Why?"

"I… when Himura saved me, he split his protections too far."

"You've said that."

Megumi's flat stare was hostile. "Then listen. He split his protections; that means that the garden is still trying to protect me. Perhaps having that protection for herself will allow her a better chance to gain control of the node when Himura dies."

Misao frowned. "Maybe… but that doesn't feel right."

"Basing your assumptions of your feelings?" Saitoh asked.

"Oh shut up. I don't see _you_ volunteering any information."

"I don't have to. The doctor knows exactly why Yukishiro sent her mad dog after her."

Misao leaned forward, her temper starting to fray. "Did I not make myself clear earlier with the promise of a very painful, magical death if you did not tell me the truth?"

Her long fingered hands tightened into fists. "I have a piece of his garden."

"_What do_ _you mean_ that you have _a piece of his garden_?"

"What did you think was growing on the side of my home?"

"Normal, non-magical roses!" Misao snapped. "What sort of risk were you _taking_? Do you have _any idea_?"

"I didn't plant them. I told you, the magic has a mind of its own!"

"I am getting sick and tired of everyone blaming the magic for _their own stupid_!"

"First smart thing you've said all day." Saitoh said as he ground out the butt of his second cigarette under his heel.

Misao spun around and shoved a finger at him. "If you know something then say it now or so help me I'm going to write a formal, official complaint of abuse of power against a mage clan and get it on your record."

Saitoh smile was more teeth than anything else. "That will be fairly difficult since I am no longer employed by the council."

"_What_?"

Misao leapt to her feet, eyes narrowed. "You've been lying!"

He snorted. "Have I?"

She shoved a finger at him. "You said, and I quote "I'm here at the Council's bidding." And now you say you don't work for them anymore! That's enough to get you into serious oath breaking trouble!"

He stared at her with glittering eyes. "Try it."

Megumi frowned at him. "Are you saying they fired you?"

He snorted. "Those bumbling idiots have… no. I was not fired."

"Then _why are you here_?"

Saitoh was silent for several moments before he shrugged. "You are not the only one tied to old oaths, Megumi. As I have said, if Himura breaks free from his bindings and begins to attack I will put him down. By leaving the Council's influence it simply allows me to do so in the manner that I wish."

"He is not an animal!"

Misao scowled. "What do you mean, in the manner that you wish? Why does the Council want Himura dead?"

Megumi looked stricken. "They wouldn't dare attack someone in control of a node!"

Misao wondered if just killing them both would solve so many of her problems. "We don't have time to worry about this right now…" She pinned Saitoh with her eyes. "Are you actively attempting to sabotage this investigation?"

"No."

"Swear it on your magic or get out."

Looking amused, he gave a slightly mocking bow. "I swear by my oaths and my magic that I mean this investigation no harm."

"That will have to do."

Picking up her jacket, she spun around and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

Misao arched a brow at both of them. "Clearly if you have a piece of Himura's garden in your backyard then we should go check it out. Maybe it will tell us something."

X

The roses had been all been destroyed. Frowning, Misao let Megumi walk through the still obvious wards before following. Saitoh went last. To Misao's surprise, the chain-smoker didn't even reach for his pack of cigarettes, instead he looked around the small lot and managed to look as perturbed Misao was certain as anyone had seen him. So she wasn't the only one to have missed the obvious here.

"He destroyed your roses."

"It appears so."

Saitoh walked forward and stared at the ground. "The white-haired Yukishiro was here?"

"I sort of kept him from disemboweling the good doctor here." Misao said mildly. "But I thought you knew that."

Saitoh reached for something and then stopped himself, straightening as he looked around. "He should not have had access to this place."

"His sister has more control than we first believed." Megumi said bitterly, crouching to touch a ruined rose petal, something tense along her mouth.

"Maybe," Misao agreed reluctantly, walking along the path. There was a… heaviness to the air here that there hadn't been before. "But why destroy the flowers?"

Megumi was silent, fingers brushing along more of the broken blooms. "The flowers will know when the battle between them starts – or if he is close to breaking the spell."

"If Kaoru is close to breaking the spell," Misao corrected. "But why does that matter… it's not like you can do anything from this side."

Saitoh sighed and said in a voice heavy with intent. "The garden already has Kamiya's blood."

Misao jerked up. "What does that mean?"

"It means…" Megumi started and then stopped. "I don't know what it means but it's connected somehow to this little piece away from the estate. I think."

"You think?" Misao scowled. "I really don't think either of you are taking my threats seriously here. When I say that I want to know everything, I mean _everything_."

"There is a lot I am unaware of, Misao, since I can no longer step foot onto the estate grounds. I am not even sure why this bit has been following me around." Megumi said.

"Probably to keep you from getting killed by your _stupidity_," Misao snapped before taking a deep breath. "I guess it doesn't matter. At least I gave her a ward."

Megumi sneered at her. "You think a ward will help when generations of a blood feud are finally coming to a head?"

Misao shrugged. "I have no idea – magic tends to do what it wants, after all. You of all people should know that. I just gift it with a little direction sometimes. We'll see what it does."

"Is that so?"

Sticking her tongue out, she squatted down and studied a mostly ruined flower. She thought it had moved but there was nothing underneath it. "I still think there was a reason that Enishi did this."

"You mean besides the fact that he is insane."

"Even insanity has reasons." Misao muttered, poking at the flower again when it almost seemed to wiggle. Hot sparks pressed against her finger and she yelped, falling on her ass.

"_What the_…"

Breaking free of the ground was a flower-vine and it curled upwards, a single pale, creamy white flower opening to full bloom. Staring at it in surprise, Misao's heart started to hammer when she heard the faint, irritated grumblings of her best friend.

"Kaoru?"

X

He'd been watching her all day and it was starting to… well, he was already under her skin. Blowing her bangs out of her eye, she cut a flat stare in his direction. Heavy lidded, intent yellow eyes stared back, completely unabashed that she had caught him _again_ and continued to watch. Working to keep a completely illogical blush from creeping up her neck, she twisted back around and tried to decide what he wanted now.

It didn't help that she kept remembering his teeth pressed against her throat and the feel of his mouth against hers. For someone mostly reacting on animalistic tendencies he could really kiss. Feeling her cheeks start to burn as he eyes seared a hole in her back, she shoved her fingers back into their work and forced herself to think about something else.

She wondered what Misao was doing. The thought of her friend hurt, a sharp jagged pain and she swallowed several times, catching control of emotions she was fairly sure stemmed from a lack of sleep. Brushing dirt covered hands against her knees, she sighed heavily. She knew what Misao was doing. She was tearing the libraries apart and black mailing anyone and everyone she had dirt on for some sort of help in this situation.

Blowing her bangs out of her eyes, she turned to find Kenshin had gone very still, his gaze slightly unfocused as he looked at something internally. Then something bloomed on his face that she couldn't read and then bright yellow was locked onto her and she couldn't breathe. Then he was moving forward in the half-crouching glide that made up his walk that managed to be graceful and slightly awkward before he was sitting right next to her, nudging her shoulder with his. She frowned at him.

"No. I have work to do."

Another, more insistent push and a faint growl.

"I said _no_."

Sitting back he watched from under dark lashes and then moved too fast for her stop, sliding his shoulder into her gut and lifting her off her feet. Gasping for air as he moved them along the path at a pace quicker than balancing her should have allowed, she sputtered for air when he finally set her down.

"Kenshin! _What are you doing?_" She stood up, brushing mulch off her butt and glared at him.

A faint smile curled the edges of his lips and his eyes moved over her shoulder to the rose that was leaning forward, inches from her face.

"_Kaoru_?"

The faint, slightly disembodied voice of Misao took the strength from her knees. Kaoru sank to the earth and stared at the pale, white flower in front of her that the voice of her best friend had echoed quite clearly from. She stared at it, ignoring the way claws tangled in her hair.

"Misao?"

There was silence.

"Holy shit, _what is this_? Some sort of rose cell phone? Magical walkie-talkie? I mean, who would have thought something like this was possible… dammit, is this why he… ouch, _stop it_!" There was a snarl and two other voices and then Misao was back.

"Are you alright?"

Tears pooled in her eyes and she swallowed before she could talk. "I'm alive but we're under some sort of magical siege here and… everyone is disappearing."

"Disappearing?" This time the voice was male and one Kaoru did not recognize. There was a faint vibration from Kenshin that might have been a snarl.

"I'm the only beside Kenshin who isn't… mostly transparent."

Again that _pause_.

"Um, who the hell is cooking?"

Kaoru rubbed her eyes and leaned forward, a faint smile curling her lips at that comment. "What's going on there?"

"Oh lots of stuff I can't apparently tell you about or risk damaging your chances of getting out. But I'm working on a plan, okay? You're not fighting this alone and… damn; the flower is starting to wilt. Listen, stay live, you hear me? Stay…"

Kaoru reached out and touched the flower as it almost seemed to sag, spent. Closing her eyes she struggled with a torrent of emotion that surged in her chest and throat. Before she could decide exactly how she was going to deal with this, Kenshin gave a faint sigh and slid boneless next to her and looked gray. Alarmed she reached out and touched his face, voice high as she said his name.

He didn't open his eyes.

"_Kenshin_?"

Still no response and she bit her lip, looking around. Pulling her hand away from his face, she stilled the sudden rushing of wind, female laughter taunting the edge of her senses. Tomoe. She cursed at the timing. She was hunting them and Kenshin was gray faced and apparently exhausted which meant…

Kaoru stared at him. "You… did that?"

Lashes fluttered just a little and she curled her fists together, trying to understand. He… he had done something so she could talk to Misao. So she wasn't alone. How had he known that she needed that? And now they vulnerable because… because he was too pale and drained and that bitch Yukishiro was going to kill him. He had risked himself for her.

Tilting her head, she studied the landscape and pressed one hand into the earth and one hand curled along Kenshin's wrist. Something hummed in the air and a sensation like small ants crawling all over her body made her shiver – and then the air shimmered and for a moment it seemed to _hang_ and then it faded away.

And for some reason she felt safe. Taking a deep breath, she determinedly ignored the growing thunder as Tomoe hunted and very carefully threaded her fingers through Kenshin's. His eyes opened a glimmer before shutting again and his long hand curled around hers. Swallowing heavily, she stared at their hands.

He looked so comfortable like that – his fingers linked to hers, close enough that his shoulder could brush her leg. Eyes shut, breathing low and deep he almost seemed… normal. Relaxed. But whatever he had done had taken a great deal out of him. Swallowing, she traced the lines of his knuckles with her free hand and came to a decision.

Reaching out, she brushed his hair out of his eyes and his eyes opened. "Thank you."

Hesitating under that brilliant, exhausted gaze she took a deep breath before leaning over and brushing her mouth along his. His lips were slightly chapped and when she pulled back, he had gone perfectly, completely still. She wasn't even sure he was breathing. Brows tucking together, she frowned at the unnatural stillness but before she could ask, there was a sensation like a hammer slamming into her chest and she fell backwards. Before she could recover there was a sound like thunder hammering through her ears and the sudden screams and rushing of the garden was buzzing along her nerves like a thousand bee stings; just before it overwhelmed her and her world edged into darkness yellow, yellow eyes caught and held her gaze.

And then everything faded away.

* * *

_**Please Comment!**_


End file.
